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Friday’s Gallery Walk Features Newman’s White Bark Pine Sculptures and More Page 5
Trailing of the Sheep Festival Rich With Culture
Devo Nordic Team Looking for Elementary School-Aged Children Page 8
St. Thomas Playhouse Readies for ‘My Fair Lady’ Musical Page 14
O c t o b e r 9 , 2 0 1 3 • V o l . 6 • N o . 4 1 • w w w .T h e W e e k l y S u n . c o m
read about it on PaGe 19
Felix Gonzalez Shares the Story of his
Basque Legacy PHOTOS & STORY BY KAREN BOSSICK
S The Sun Valley Jazz Festival will kick up its heels with dance competitions, dance lessons and more Oct. 16 through 20.
Jazz Festival Kicks Off With Free Concert BY KAREN BOSSICK
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he 24th annual Sun Valley Jazz Festival will kick off on Tuesday with a free community concert sponsored by Atkinsons’ Market at the Sun Valley indoor ice rink. Meschiya Lake & Dem Lil’ Big Horns will be the featured performers for the concert, which starts at 7 p.m. The Wood River High School Dixie Band will be the warm-up act. Meschiya Lake & Dem Lil’ Big Horns first appeared at the Sun Valley Jazz Festival a few years ago; their high-energy brand of New Orleans-style jazz became a hot ticket immediately. Lake was honored Best Female Performer at the 2011 Big Easy Music Awards. This year’s jazz festival will feature 40 bands with performances by more than 200 musicians from Wednesday, Oct. 16, through Sunday, Oct. 20, at several venues around Sun Valley. New this year: The Red Skunk Jipzee Swing Band, which draws its inspiration from Django Reinhardt, ’30s European Jazz and American roots music. Also, Lisa Kelly & the J.B. Scott Sextet, a Florida group that performs American Songbook classics and New Orleans trad. Celebrate America Show Corporation will also present “In the Miller Mood,” a swinging musical show that captures the sound of Glen Miller and the Big Band era. It features the Stardust Singers, Stardust Dancers and the Larry Smith Orchestra. Those who want to cut the rug themselves can do so at free dance classes. In addition to the free concert on Tuesday night, the Wood River High Dixie Band will also present a free performance at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 16, in the Sun Room of the Sun Valley Lodge. The Borah High School band and choir will perform a free concert at 11 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 19, in the Sun Room. Next Generation, a concert featuring high school choirs, the Yale Whiffinpoofs and Bill, Shelley & Westy, will perform a free concert at 5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 19, in the Limelight Room of the Sun Valley Inn. And the Mountain View High Jazz Choir will present a free concert at 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 19 at the Sun Room. Information: sunvalleyjazz.com tws
un Valley sheep paved the road to fortune for Felix Gonzalez and his family. But his father, who left Spain in 1955 in order to provide his family back home with better food and clothing, was a reluctant sheepherder. “He did it because of us. And he was proud to become an American citizen,” said Gonzalez. “My dad, he didn’t like the sheep, though. Half of the band would go on one side of the mountain and the other half on the other side and he was afraid he would lose them. He herded sheep for just two years, then he worked at a ranch west of Shoshone before moving to Sun Valley.” Gonzalez, his mother and his brother and sister eventually followed his father to Sun Valley. But they retained many of their traditions, including the paella and flan that his mother Olalla cooked every Sunday. Gonzalez has shared many of the recipes his mother taught him over 40-plus years of working as a chef in the Sun Valley area. And on Friday he’ll share more in one of a handful of cooking classes offered by the Trailing of the Sheep Festival. “All Basque families love to eat—love to eat and drink wine—it’s our heritage,” he said. “My mother was a very, very, very good cook. Most of the great chefs in Europe come from the Basque country. Right now the Basque country has more Michelin cooks than any other country.” Gonzalez’s family experienced a hardscrabble life under the dictator Francisco Franco. His father, who fought for the Republicans during the Spanish Civil War, had to hide out in France for two years as Franco’s troops hunted down rebels. Everything was censored. Gonzalez’s father worked eight to 10 hours a day, supervising dairy workers, and then cut hay by hand to earn a few more “potatas,” as Gonzalez calls them. Families had a sheep, goat and pig, which they fed with potato peelings and slaughtered for sausage and hams. They ate mutton—lamb was reserved for rich people. His mother canned food in old wine bottles, covering the food with olive oil so air didn’t get in and topping them with a piece of paper tied tight with string. In winter, his mother brought the chickens into the kitchen to keep them warm. And Gonzalez dressed in bed because the alternative was too cold. “If you found a horseshoe, you would pick it up because you could resell it to
SEE PAGE 3
Felix Gonzalez shows off his Order of the Rotisseurs medal, an international gastronomic society founded in Paris in 1950 to promote fine wining and dining.
“All Basque families love to eat…it’s our heritage. Most of the great chefs in Europe come from the Basque country [which] has more Michelin cooks than any other country.” –Felix Gonzalez
the recycling guys. It was hard but people were closer to each other because it was hard times. They helped one another,” Gonzalez recalled. “My father never talked about the war or Francisco Franco. But my mother called Franco every dirty word in the dictionary—she hated him. He lightened up only when the United States built bases in Spain.” The Valley of the Sun Looking for a better life, Gonzalez’s
Felix Gonzalez dressed up for a day on the town in this picture.
father followed his brother to Idaho. He herded sheep between Baker Creek and Hulen Meadows, which at that time was a hayfield. “Back then it would be rainy and
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