The Entertainer! - January 2021 by Times Media Group

PHX METRO » JANUARY 2021

BACK TO BASICS

Christopher Shayne goes old school

PARTNER IN WINE Danica Patrick teams with French family for rosé

‘COBRA KAI’

THE ENTERTAINER! MAGAZINE JANUARY 2021

CONTENTS

Danica Patrick teams with French family for rosé

ON THE COVER

PARTNER IN WINE

A MOMENT OF CLARITY

Jimmy Eat World gives fans a series to believe in

MIDCENTURY COOL

Hula’s owner Dana Mule goes from touring to tikis on the cover: Danica Patrick Cover photo special to the Entertainer

THE ENTERTAINER! MAGAZINE JANUARY 2021

SKATIN’ FOR LEIGHTON

The Arizona Coyotes plan to honor late superfan

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CONTENTS

UPFRONT

Christopher Shayne • Danica Patrick • ‘Cobra Kai’ • Jimmy Eat World

CITY

Matthew Sweet • 810 Billiards • Joey Jay

ARTS

Gold Palette Art Walk • AZ Fine Art Expo

DINING

Ryan House Benefit • National Soup Day • The Yard Milkshake Bar • Super Bowl Dining Specials • Hula’s Modern Tiki

BEER AND WINE

BEST-KEPT SECRET

The Hall of Flame was born out of one man’s hobby

Beers for Owls • Luckys Indoor Outdoor

SPORTS

Skatin’ for Leighton • Torey Lovullo • Waste Management Phoenix Open

FAMILY

Hall of Flame • “We Can Be Heroes”

MUSIC

Mike Garson • Escape the Fate • Ryan Butler • Dominique Hinojosa • David Nail • Andrew Farriss • Los

IN CLOSING Numbers

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AN UNEXPECTED EDUCATION

contributing writers

Tara Alatorre, Nicholas Barker, Dave Hogg, Coty Dolores Miranda, Annika Tomlin

Staff Photographer Pablo Robles

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UPFRONT

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BACK TO BASICS

Christopher Shayne goes for old-school rock on debut EP By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski

outhern rocker Christopher Shayne was about to sign a contract with Carry On Music when label head Tom Lipsky had something to say. “He signed Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Allman Brothers,” the Arcadia resident recalls. “When we signed on, he had the gold record of Skynyrd behind him. He said he gave it to them on stage. “Then, he said, ‘We’re going to give you your first gold record on stage, too.’ That level of belief for us is huge.” The Carry On Music team is behind “Ten High,” the debut EP by Shayne and his bandmates—lead guitarist Dave Lansing, vocalist/bassist Mark Blades, keyboardist/guitarist Zachary Hughes and drummer Trevor Hammer—that is due on January 22. The videos for the EP’s first two singles, “Any Given Sunday” and “Pour the Bottle,” are available on the label’s official YouTube page. “It’s a little more raw, a little more unpolished,” Shayne says of the EP. “It’s very much five guys playing in a room together, just playing songs. The songs are just more fun. This one, we wanted to be a little more rock ’n’ roll, old school sounding. You can hear the buzz of the amps in between songs. That was one of those things we wanted to encapsulate.”

LOCAL NATIVE Shayne was born in Scottsdale, but his family moved to the West Valley when he was in the seventh grade. He graduated from Mountain Ridge High School in Glendale. From there, he went on to study communications at ASU. His mom was into music but didn’t play an instrument herself. Shayne described her as “involved in that whole ’80s rock scene.” “I attended a Motley Crue concert in the womb, if that’s any indication,” he adds. Shayne’s father was in the ’80s popular local metal band Surgical Steel. “A lot of people who remember that band always remind me of it,” Shayne says with a laugh. “I have to remind them that I’m working on my thing.”

Shayne’s foray into music began as a loosely termed competition. In high school, one of Shayne’s friends picked up a guitar. Not one to be outdone, Shayne followed. “I went out that night and bought a guitar,” he says. “We competed with Metallica riffs back and forth for a couple years. I didn’t know I could sing until senior year of high school. I was really bored, and the theater department was doing ‘Little Shop of Horrors.’ I thought, ‘Maybe this will be fun.’ I ended up getting the role of the plant, Audrey II. I didn’t have to be onstage. I just sat backstage, talked on the microphone and sang.” His love of performing grew from there. An admitted “huge” Aerosmith fan, Shayne honed his performance skills as a karaoke host at the now-defunct Hurricane Bay at 43rd and Bell. “I hosted karaoke for a number of years,” he says. “That’s where I really learned to be onstage, talk to people, be an entertainer and be a frontperson. It’s one thing to be a good singer, but if you can’t talk to a crowd or be comfortable on stage, that doesn’t work. “We would dress up in silly costumes.

After a while, I had no fear of being on stage anymore.” Since he was 17, Shayne has played around town with a plethora of bands, including Whiskey Six, which won KUPD’s Playdio contest. “I realized that technically, I was a musician at that point,” he says. Shayne has performed at NASCAR races in Avondale, hit the stage at Country Thunder and entertained at the NAMM show in Anaheim. The band is a favorite at Arizona Bike Week at WestWorld, too. One of his fondest memories came from Bike Week. “I’m a huge ZZ Top fan,” Shayne says. “We opened for them at Bike Week. Just being able to share the space with them was something I’ll never forget. “We had to do our usual ‘play with the crowd.’ Right before ZZ Top went on, we did ‘Dancing Queen’ by ABBA. We had 21,000 bikers—the biggest, burliest dudes you’ve ever seen—scream along to ‘Dancing Queen.’ I’ll never, ever forget that.”

SONGWRITING PROCESS Shayne and Lansing have been writing songs together for 10 years, since they

were in Whiskey Six, a well-known Valley bandy. “He and I will throw riffs at each other, or song ideas or concepts,” Shayne says. “We both have in-home studios. We will go back and forth with a lot of Zoom calls lately just to see what sticks. “We’ll play it out with each other and then present it to the rest of the group. We then flush it out and see what feels good.” Cass Dillon produced “Ten High” in New York and says Shayne is an “extremely kind and funny human.” “He makes bad-ass, bluesy, loud rock ’n’ roll,” Dillon says. “Underneath, he’s a great, super fun human.” Dillon and Shayne both say they understood were they were coming from musically. “I think it’s just an understanding that some musicians have,” says Dillon, who has worked with Morgan Saint and the Goo Goo Dolls, among others. “You work with a lot of different people and some you connect with. Chris was that person for me.” “We talked about mood, and he was right there on board,” Shayne adds. “It’s great when I meet another musician who can speak the same

THE ENTERTAINER! MAGAZINE JANUARY 2021

language. He came in and it was like we’d known each other for 20 years. I’ve worked with a lot of producers. I have deep respect for what they have to do. Everybody wants the product to be good. When you have somebody who immediately understands it, it feels so freeing, artistically.” The music on “Ten High” is as sincere as it gets. Shayne says rock is making a comeback. “There’s a lot of room now for rock bands who weren’t there two to three years ago,” Shayne says he believes. “I just want to hammer that point home and deliver something as real and as honest as humanly possible, in those veins. The fun is in the struggle and in the challenge of doing that. Music can be anything it wants to be—but it has to mean something to you. Making that happen for our fans is something I’ll be focusing on for the next handful of years.” Fans have already latched on to Shayne and his band. It makes sense; the music appeals to country, rock and metal fans. “We’re that Southern rock band that shouldn’t be, and yet here we are,” he says with a laugh. “A Southern rock band in Arizona? I don’t know how the math in that worked out. But we’re riding this train, and it’s been a blast.” “We wanted that old-school, AC/DC, ‘Highway to Hell’ kind of sound, so we stripped away some of the production layers to see what that would sound like,” Shayne says. “And what came out was music that’s as raw and as human as possible. Making sure we had an extra tinge of soul in there, too, made it much more interesting in the rock setting we wanted this music to have.” The proof is in several songs on the EP. While organ fills may bring listeners into “Sunday” church, Shayne’s “Lord, I know we don’t speak often enough” prayer section takes fans to the altar.

“The version that’s in the final mix is literally the demo of that speech, because it was one of those lightning-in-a-bottle situations, and we just caught it that one time,” Shayne says. “And that’s all we needed to do. It was all just made up on the spot, and that was it.” Shayne calls “Pour the Bottle” a “pure guitar muscle song.” For the song, Shayne channels—perhaps unknowingly—Soundgarden’s late singer Chris Cornell and Doug Gray of The Marshall Tucker Band. The EP wasn’t meant to be perfect, he says. The buzz of the amps in between songs was purposeful, as Shayne wanted to encapsulate old-school recordings. “I’m not a fan of recordings that are pristine and perfect,” he acknowledges. “I would much rather be somebody who’s just going for it and feeling it in the moment, because that kind of emotional fire and resonance carries so much more weight with the audience than just about anything.” In the meantime, Shayne is grateful for Lipsky and Carry On Music. “They’ve been a dream to work with, really,” he says. “They’re one of the few business relationships where we’re allowed to be ourselves. In music, that’s rare. When they came on, they said, ‘We love what you do. Keep being you, and let us know.’ That was all we needed to hear.”

Christopher Shayne facebook.com/ christophershaynemusic Videos “Pour the Bottle” video youtube.com/ watch?v=OObGtIfmGb0 “Any Given Sunday” video youtube.com/ watch?v=RC2hT17jQvQ

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Danica Patrick teams with French family for rosé By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski

ormer racecar driver Danica Patrick acknowledges that her reasons for offering rosé wine aren’t necessarily classy or politically correct, but they’re

true. “I like to drink it,” the part-time Scottsdale resident says with a laugh. Patrick collaborated with the Margnat family for Danica Rosé, which is made in Provence, France. She chose the region because it’s the oldest winemaking region in France, where rosé is a specialty and a long-standing way of life. Provence is perfectly suited to make rosé, thanks to the climate, terroir and grape varietals. The wine comes in an elegant custom glass bottle that is an homage to the blend’s French origin. Danica Rosé is available online for Arizonans. The brand is slated to expand into retail stores nationwide later this year. Patrick’s path to appreciating wine came from her racing days in England, where she discovered her love of wine. As her world travels took her to Asia, Australia, Europe, New Zealand and South Africa, her passion for wine led her to purchase a vineyard in Napa Valley and start her own wine brand, Somnium. “Back in 2006, I took a trip to Napa Valley and thought, ‘Man, it would be cool to have something like this someday,’” she recalls. “In 2009 I bought property, and I sold my first bottle in 2017. “Since then, I’ve been expanding the wine portfolio and just being in the business itself. This opportunity to make a rosé in France came up. I jumped

because I love wine and I love rosé. The thread that’s the most important thread is that, it is in line with my core values and what I stand for. Those things only grow over time.” Patrick says as she sheds the things she “has” to do, she’s able to do what she “wants.” Through her wine—or any other project for that matter—she hopes people see two of her key values, which are integrity and authenticity. “Hopefully, if people don’t like me, they can feel my authenticity,” she says. “I hope they observe that in their own reality. If they have a different opinion— no matter who they are—I’m authentic to them and that can be respected. There’s nothing more authentic than making rosé in Provence, where it originated.” Besides authenticity, her core values are honesty, truth, effort, commitment, dedication, passion and care. She is passionate about rosé. “Rosé is so popular right now,” she says. “Appropriately so. Rosé is such a crowd pleaser. I feel everybody loves rosé or likes rosé. It’s versatile when it comes to food. I think it’s the most versatile.” Patrick is calling from her Scottsdale home’s dining room, with its oversized windows that overlook the Sonoran Desert. “We sit outside all the time,” she says. “It’s too cold at night to sit outside now. For most of the year, it’s great.” Her other favorite Valley activities are visiting her hangs, like Mission in Old Town or Zinc Bistro at Kierland Commons. Patrick also enjoys traveling to the red rocks of Sedona. “I’m such a hippy at heart,” she says. “I get my psychic reading. I go to my favorite vegan restaurant, even though I’m not vegan. I love the versatility. The connection in nature is so good here. It’s so easy to be here, whether it’s out hiking or biking.” She quickly interrupts herself. “True Food Kitchen. How can I forget that?” she says. “And Flower Child. It’s the baseline for a basic, quick grab for healthy food.” Danica Rosé is the latest expression of her passion. “My appreciation for wine and the winemaking process has grown tremendously over the past 15 years. The Danica Rosé is the type of French rosé that I enjoy drinking year-round. It is crisp and light with well-balanced acidity.”

Danica Rosé danicarosewine.com @danicarosewine ENTERTAINERMAG.COM

‘BEAUTIFUL NOSTALGIA’

THE ENTERTAINER! MAGAZINE JANUARY 2021

Cult favorite ‘Cobra Kai’ kicks its way into season 3 By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski

ourtney Henggeler was like many teenage girls, covering her walls with posters of heartthrobs like Ralph Macchio and, later, New Kids on the Block. Now she finds it surreal to play Amanda LaRusso, the wife of Macchio’s character, on the hit Netflix show “Cobra Kai.” “‘The Karate Kid’ was very big in my neighborhood,” she recalls. “There were a lot of little boys in the neighborhood who were into karate. I said, ‘I’m into karate, too.’ I didn’t know anything about it, actually. But I had ‘Karate Kid’ memorabilia.” “Cobra Kai” takes place more than 30 years after the 1984 All Valley Karate Tournament and sees the continuation of the conflict between Daniel LaRusso (Macchio) and Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka). Season three, which starts January 1, is the aftermath of the violent high school brawl between the two dojos, which left Miguel Diaz seriously injured. While Daniel searches for answers in his past and Johnny seeks redemption, Kreese further manipulates his vulnerable students with his own vision of dominance. Henggeler’s character, in the meantime, is the voice of reason. “Amanda is the peacemaker, which never sounds sexy when I say it,” Henggeler says with a laugh. “I think she’s kind of the voice of the audience at times. She thinks it’s hilarious that Johnny and Daniel had a beef over a girl in high school and they are still archnemeses in their 50s. They should have moved on with their lives. Kreese is back. He’s this intense sensei. It’s all kind of hilarious." No spoilers here, but Henggeler says season three is her favorite. It was filmed a year ago, before the COVID-19 pandemic. Season four is still being considered. “It gets better and better and better,” she says. “It wasn’t on Netflix yet when we were on season three. It was on YouTube Red. Netflix is awesome.” “Cobra Kai” has become a cult favorite—especially among those who remember the original “Karate Kid.” The movie reflects the 1980s during season

three’s pivotal scenes—especially with music like “In the Air Tonight” by Phil Collins and Journey’s “Open Arms.” “It brings back all of the feelings we were feeling back then,” Henggeler says. “It’s a beautiful nostalgia. I really didn’t expect it to be so well received. But I enjoy seeing Billy and Xolo Maridueña (Miguel Diaz) and their wonderful mentorship. YouTube Red was a venue that no one really had access to or really existed. I thought it was just fun. I didn’t think it would have the impact that it has.” She believes the appeal is widespread because “Cobra Kai” has something for everyone. For kids too young to remember the original “Karate Kid,” there are characters like the angry Hawk (Jacob Bertrand); the all-American sweetheart Samantha LaRusso (Mary Mouser) and the bad girl Tory (Peyton List). “Our cast is diverse, in the sense of ages,” she says. “We have Mary, who just hit 1 million followers. She’s the quintessential American sweet girl. You can’t help but care for her. She’s just stinkin’ adorable. “Some people are all about Kreese, who’s dark and evil. Then there are people who love Billy’s Johnny Lawrence. There are some fans of Demetri (the dojo’s nerd). It’s funny to watch the interactions and who the fans are gravitating toward. “I recommend shows to people. I just watched ‘The Queen’s Gambit.’ Phenomenal. I can’t recommend that to my mother, though, per se. “I feel that I can wholeheartedly recommend ‘Cobra Kai’ to everybody. I think it has something for everyone there. You can’t help but walk away feeling good.” That includes Henggeler, who still is in awe of performing with Macchio. “I don’t know how it’s going to be with COVID, but I love sitting next to Ralph,” she says. “His family is very lovely as well. I get the privilege of knowing them. I look at myself shooting on the set with Ralph Macchio and I think, ‘What are you saying to him? Stop.’ Now he’s ‘Ralph’ to me. For the first two seasons, he was ‘Ralph Macchio.’ “He’s so kind and much quirkier than I thought he was. He was the guy in the poster for the longest time.” ENTERTAINERMAG.COM

A MOMENT OF CLARITY Jimmy Eat World gives fans a series to believe in

By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski

immy Eat World hasn’t played live since December 12, 2019, and, lead singer Jim Adkins quips, “It’s not like I’m keeping track or anything.” The Valley alternapop band returned to the stage recently to film three on-demand specials dubbed “Phoenix Sessions”—“Chapter X: Surviving” on January 15; “Chapter V: Futures” on January 29 and “Chapter III: Clarity” on February 12. Filmed at the Icehouse in Downtown Phoenix, each show will start at 3 p.m. MST and will be on demand for 72 hours post-stream at jimmyeatworld. com. “We had our pick of doing it anywhere, but doing it here makes it feel special,” Adkins says. “This is a part of who we are, and it’s important to convey that.” Adkins says with the entire year of touring wiped out, Jimmy Eat World is looking for opportunities, instead of mulling over cancellations. A quartet of music fans, Jimmy Eat World deemed it best to produce a three-part series. “We try to approach things from a music fan’s perspective,” Adkins adds. “We’re thinking about what would be cool. We thought putting together a really great production of us performing

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albums in their entirety would be a thing us, as music fans, would dig. It’s something we’ve never done.” “We’re not the type of artists who perform songs on a whim and improvise sets and make it new every time. We thought about what we could do that presents a sense of value. Whole albums would be the thing. It’s not even something we do regularly in performances.” During the pandemic, Adkins has been keeping busy. He started a podcast about songwriting called “Pass Through Frequencies,” with guests like Marc Rebillet, Frank Turner, Ken Andrews of Failure and Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance. “I have had a lot of guests I wouldn’t normally have landed,” Adkins says. “The video is on YouTube and the audio wherever audio happens. They’re friends we normally see on tour because we’d all be on tour. There are 20 episodes out now.” For a bit, he balanced his podcast with rehearsing for “Phoenix Sessions.” He admits some of the songs were challenging. “‘Congratulations’ from ‘Surviving’ is challenging,” he says about the 6-minute, 11-second song that closes the album. “It’s the type of song where there are long sections of the same thing over and over again, followed by interjections

that are changing and moving around. I have the tendency to zone out on the groove that’s happening.” For “Phoenix Sessions,” the band is offering bundles with T-shirts, tickets, masks, posters and virtual meet and greets ranging from $14.99 to $149.99. “If you’re fortunate enough to have expendable income and you want to buy more things with it, we have options for those people,” Adkins says. “But it’s more about covering our expenses and maybe paying our crew. It was really nice to work with our lighting people and tech people, who we haven’t

really seen, other than from the waist up on Zoom, in a year. It was really great.”

Jimmy Eat World “Phoenix Sessions”— “Chapter X: Surviving” on January 15; “Chapter V: Futures” on January 29 and “Chapter III: Clarity” on February 12; 3 p.m. Mountain Standard Time $14.99 to $149.99 jimmyeatworld.com Watch the trailer at youtu.be/f1jfc8hm3fs

THE ENTERTAINER! MAGAZINE JANUARY 2021

CITY

STYLE » ENVY » PASSION » FASHION » BEAUTY » DESIGN

SWEET RELEASE

Matthew Sweet straps on a guitar for his new album By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski

atthew Sweet admits it’s a little tough to release an album during a pandemic. But he needed fans to h hear ear his new album, “Catspaw,” which hits stores January 15 on Omnivore Recordings. “I don’t like to wait a long time after I finish an album to release it,” Sweet says. “It’s really finished for me when it gets manufactured and it’s out the door. That would give me weird feelings if it waited and waited.” The album was wrapped up just before the world closed down, which is ironic because the guitar-driven “Catspaw” has a certain gloominess to it. To take out his frustration, Sweet plays lead, something he was hesitant to do previously. “I had been talking about doing it for years,” he says. “But I had other people play lead. I’m not trained at it at all. “I’ve been around enough great guitar players and played enough riffs that I could give it a go. I think it’s a pretty rock record for me. Some of the songs are doom related, so it fits well with the pandemic.

I think it’s part of the function of being older and writing music. I’m going to fight against the onslaught of time. It has a consistency and tone to it. It does have a lot of different sentiments. I tried to not overwork it. I just went for it.” The pandemic has been hard on Sweet, who turned 56 on October 6. He considers himself to be high risk, so he’s been careful. “My health isn’t fantastic,” he says. “I’m not in super great shape. It’s been a scary time. My wife was furloughed for a couple months early on. She went back to work in the summer. “The lucky thing is in our city of

Omaha, there’s been a mask mandate the whole time. Everyone, at least, wears a mask. But it’s scary now, especially, because it really seems to be ramping up again—especially around our area in the Midwest, which didn’t have it quite as bad in the earlier days.” The quarantine wasn’t so bad, though. Sweet says he considers himself a homebody—someone who doesn’t socialize much. “In a weird way, it’s not that different,” he says. “It’s only different because I can’t work. I absorbed a whole lot of content and watched tons of movies and shows. That’s filled a lot of my time.”

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ROLL WITH IT

810 Billiards and Bowling strikes CityScape By Annika Tomlin

ike Siniscalchi founded 810 Billiards and Bowling in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, in 2015. Soon, he’s bringing it to Chandler and Downtown Phoenix’s CityScape. “The CityScape developers, Red Development, which owns the property for our Chandler location, told us they had the former Lucky Strike place that was vacant,” Siniscalchi says. “They were internally discussing how to repurpose it or what to do with it. I spoke with them about taking that over as a corporate location, and we decided to move forward with that.” The CityScape location will have 10 lanes, four of which will be sectioned off for private parties. Those lanes will feature their own bar and lounge area, an arcade, pool tables and a large dining and mixed-use area. CityScape will feature something unique to the chain—a mechanical bull because, he says, “Why not?” “Lucky Strike had annexed about 10,000 square feet behind it and created Gypsy Bar, which had a nightclub, latenight bottle service, DJ kind of vibe,” Siniscalchi says. “We are coming in and converting it over to our concept, which is more of a sports bar and family friendly.” Core food menu items include madefrom-scratch pizzas, burgers and wings along with specialty cocktails such as the Million Dollar Margarita; the 810 Octane made with Club Caribe pineapple rum, strawberry purée, orange juice and lemon lime soda; or the Trader Vic’s 151 float. “Our core menu will definitely be the same across the brand at any store,” Siniscalchi says. “We’re very focused on

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prepping things in-house while trying to stay affordable. We also try to offer a restaurant-quality food and beverage experience, as opposed to what a lot of people might associate with a traditional bowling experience.” Siniscalchi hopes to bring in different menus to the Arizona locations. “After we get our legs under us this summer, we will start to incorporate seasonal menus that will be more specifically focused on the Phoenix area,” Siniscalchi says.

A NEW VENTURE After eight years in finance in Chicago and New York and recently engaged, Siniscalchi took his fiancée to Myrtle Beach to visit family. While there, they found a rundown bowling alley. They

put in an offer and were quickly rejected. Three months later, while moving to Rochester, New York, they received a call saying the owner would accept their offer if it was still on the table. “My wife and I had one of those pivotal roadmap life decisions to make,” he says. “We looked at each other and decided that we wanted to go for it.” They turned around and headed to Myrtle Beach. “It was a traditional center,” he says. “It was 32 lanes. We immediately closed and gutted it. We did a wall-to-wall renovation, converting it to our vision of a mixed-use upscale entertainment.” Their first location opened in 2015, with a second following in central Myrtle Beach in a converted supermarket space. The third, in Conway, South Carolina, was built from the ground up. “When we originally opened our first store, we were called 710 as homage to the split,” Siniscalchi says. “I’m kind of a math dork, but I just felt like most bowling alleys are like ‘North Myrtle Beach Bowl’ or ‘Brooklyn Bowl.’ I wanted something that could be scalable and could work in any market, not something that was going to be really Myrtle Beach- or South Carolinaspecific or locale specific.” After a trademark mishap with a similarly named company, Siniscalchi was forced to change the name of his business. “We had been open a couple of years, so I wanted to kind of keep a lot of

what we liked about our branding,” he says. “I was able to do that and just pivoted to 810, which amounts to 8-ball billiards and 10-pin bowling. It is kind of why that 810 Billiards and Bowling graphically tries to line up with the 8-ball in the eight and the bowling pin that’s the one in our logo.” The first and third locations have 12 bowling lanes, pool tables, arcade games and an upscale food and beverage dining area. “(Our second location) is over 40,000 square feet with 20 lanes, eight billiards tables, a 300-person dining room, two large arcade areas and an 18-hole indoor mini golf,” Siniscalchi says. “We also do have a stage and live music there a couple nights a week.” The location in Chandler will be a franchise. Its construction has been derailed due to COVID-19 restrictions, scheduling and availability. Siniscalchi hopes to have the Chandler and CityScape locations open in early April. “We’re excited to be coming to the Phoenix market and, especially, to have our first franchise location open. We are really hoping for everything to be on the rebound by that point from the disaster of (2020). We’re excited to be a part of post-COVID as Phoenix returns to life.”

810 Billiards and Bowling 810bowling.com

THE RACE TO THE FINISH

THE ENTERTAINER! MAGAZINE JANUARY 2021

Phoenixâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Joey Jay may be dragâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s next superstar By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski

oey Jay is a Leo who loves attention, so they found the ideal occupation for thatâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;drag. Jay is doing something right. The Downtown Phoenix resident is one of 13 new queens competing for â&#x20AC;&#x153;Americaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Next Drag Superstarâ&#x20AC;? on season 13 of â&#x20AC;&#x153;RuPaulâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Drag Race.â&#x20AC;? It begins Friday, January 1, on VH1. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Drag is perfect for me,â&#x20AC;? Jay says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I try to be a political advocate. When you do drag, you are obligated to be a political advocate. With Black Lives Matter and the previous presidency, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been a crazy year. I use drag to my advantage.â&#x20AC;? At first, Jay wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t sure how they could support Black Lives Matter, out of fear of offending someone. So, Jay asked their motherâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;whom they call a â&#x20AC;&#x153;short Jewish woman who works the voting pollsâ&#x20AC;?â&#x20AC;&#x201D; what they should do. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I told her we had some protests coming up and I wanted to help out, but I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know the best way to do that,â&#x20AC;? Jay says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;She said to go to the store and grab a bunch of cases of water and drop them off. I wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t sure, though, if I should stay or leave. She said to ask. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I parked Downtown and carried two giant plastic-wrapped containers of water seven blocks so I could go to where everyone was. They said, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Thank you so much. Hold this sign.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; Every single day after that, my friends and I put on Black Lives Matter shirts, went down there and started marching.â&#x20AC;?

THE BACK STORY Jay was born in Iowa City and grew up in Madison, Wisconsin. Jay spent the last six years of their time there in Milwaukee. The ballroom dancer moved to Phoenix to open a studio. However, an injury sidelined those plans. â&#x20AC;&#x153;You would think that would have been devastating,â&#x20AC;? Jay says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The timing was perfect, though. When I look back, I was definitely getting a little burned out. It was my cry for help, my last hurrah. When I was injured, I kept everything on good terms. I wanted to come back if I could. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s important not to burn bridges.

I just try to remember it takes a lot of energy to be angry or frustrated. If I get into an argument with a friend, I just move past it and accept those differences. I just move forward.â&#x20AC;? Jay went into corporate America and started doing drag on the side four years ago last November. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I had a lot of friends who did drag and had a dance background,â&#x20AC;? Jay says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I kind of worked with them. I would fly with them to whatever city or drive with them. One day, I decided I could do a really good job doing this.â&#x20AC;? Apparently, Jay is doing well, if he made it to â&#x20AC;&#x153;RuPaulâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Drag Race.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Stay tunedâ&#x20AC;? is all they would say, with a laugh. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Seriously, the audition process was very long and extensive. On top of it, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re currently in a pandemic. There were a lot of layers, from start to finish. I turned my audition (tape) in around January or February, and then I found out in June. We filmed July to August. To sit tight and wait for everything to air, thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a whole â&#x20AC;&#x2122;nother layer of things.â&#x20AC;? Before Jay auditioned for â&#x20AC;&#x153;RuPaulâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Drag Race,â&#x20AC;? they were doing one drag show a week. Now Jay is keeping busy frequently performing at Cobalt in Downtown Phoenix. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not doing 9 to 5 anymore,â&#x20AC;? Jay says with a laugh. Jayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s brand is a bit different from the other contestants. They use natural hair, which is multicolored and shorter, instead of wigs. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I consider myself a lipstick lesbian, bad-ass punk rockerâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;like Pink,â&#x20AC;? Jay says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not like your traditional, stereotypical drag look. To have someone like RuPaul say, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;You got the job and youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re slaying,â&#x20AC;&#x2122; feels so good. â&#x20AC;&#x153;RuPaul has so many accomplishments: a star on the Walk of Fame, a huge list on IMDb. RuPaul calls me by my name and tells me Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m doing well. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m untouchable no matter what.â&#x20AC;?

Joey Jay Instagram/Twitter: @joeyjayisgay â&#x20AC;&#x153;RuPaulâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Drag Raceâ&#x20AC;? debuts Friday, January 1, on VH1 Check local listings

The Insiderâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Guide to Arizona Entertainment

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ARTS

CULTURE » THEATER » DANCE » GALLERY » DRAMA » VISION

‘DEMONSTRATE…AND DONUTS’

Gold Palette ArtWalk makes a sweet 2021 debut By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski

he 100 Club of Arizona, a nonprofit that provides assistance to public safety officers and their families, will be the beneficiary of the Scottsdale Gallery Association’s Gold Palette ArtWalk. Themed “Demonstrate…and Donuts,” the event is from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Thursday, January 14. This special Gold Palette ArtWalk will feature donutsampling opportunities at many of the Scottsdale Arts Districts’ participating galleries along Main Street from Scottsdale Road to Goldwater Boulevard and north of Indian School on Marshall Way to Fifth Avenue. Local donut shops are donating the sweet treats, and entertainment includes traditional bagpipe musical performances and demonstrations from local artists. “We are indebted to the protection and safety that our Scottsdale Police and Fire departments provide to residents and businesses throughout the city,” said French Thompson, Scottsdale Gallery Association president. “This event is a fun and unique way for us to engage the community, thank these first responders for their service and give back to them for all they do for us.” The following galleries will be featuring special live demonstrations:

Quantum Art Inc. 7077 E. Main Street, Suite 16 Quantum Art’s renowned artist John Gleason will create a sculpture at his work bench.

Anticus Fine Art, Books, Jewelry and Design 3922 N. Scottsdale Road During the event, Anticus presents an interactive “dueling” demonstration—Paint and Brush versus Clay and Chisel featuring painter Seth Gordon and sculptor Phillip Payne creating art on the same topic side by side.

Mainview Gallery 7120 E. Main Street Guests can have donuts while enjoying works from featured artists Dale Terbush (landscape painter) and James N. Muir (sculptor).

Carsten’s Fine Art 7077 E. Main Street, Suite 5 During the event, Cyndy Carsten will demonstrate her personal techniques in painting light.

On the Edge Gallery 7050 E. Fifth Avenue During the event, the gallery will feature multiple artists demonstrating how their art is made for guests to enjoy.

Wilde Meyer Gallery 4142 N. Marshall Way From 7 to 9 p.m. during the event, Wilde Meyer features painter Diane Barbee, who will demonstrate her skills. A group show of gallery artists will also be on display, including works from painters Jim Nelson, James Koskinas, Julie Schumer, Stephanie Paige and Linda Carter Holman and sculptors Ken Kasten, Siri Hollander and Wayne Salge. Xanadu Gallery 7039 E. Main Street, Suite 101 Guests can watch as artist Shalece Fiack exemplifies how she adds gold leaf to her acrylic paintings for a unique effect. The Gold Palette ArtWalk brings

together the finest art in Scottsdale, including 28 galleries and two museums—Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art and Western Spirit: Scottsdale’s Museum of the West. During the Scottsdale Gallery Association’s weekly Gold Palette ArtWalk, presented in partnership with the city of Scottsdale, the Scottsdale Arts District offers free trolley and horse-drawn carriage rides to various restaurants, museums and galleries throughout Old Town Scottsdale. Free parking areas and valet service are offered.

Scottsdale Gallery Association Gold Palette ArtWalk: “Demonstrate…and Donuts” 6:30 to 9 p.m. Thursday, January 14 Free admission scottsdalegalleries.com

‘AN ISLAND OF ART’ THE ENTERTAINER! MAGAZINE JANUARY 2021

Artists share their passion under the white tents By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski

hen Ans Taylor paints, she finds her happy space. It’s relaxing, and it allows her to share her passion with the Arizona landscape. “I can paint for hours, and I can lose myself in it,” says Taylor, who hails from Germany. “I can mirror the beauty that I see in nature. My love for people and critters shows in my art. A fellow artist said he falls in love with every model he paints. It’s true. When I try to paint somebody, I concentrate on the person and the good things I’m seeing. It’s a privilege to do so.” Taylor is one of the 124 patronfriendly artists who will show their work at the 10-week Arizona Fine Art Expo in North Scottsdale. It runs from Friday, January 15, to Sunday, March 28, under the “festive white tents” at Scottsdale and Jomax roads. The 44,000-squarefoot space allows for social distancing; however, masks will be required. “We had to get a special permit from the city (of Phoenix), and the questionnaire was quite extensive,” says Judy Long, Arizona Fine Art Expo’s general manager. The event has a Scottsdale mailing address but is located in Phoenix. “We had to turn in the questionnaire

and have a conference call with physicians and the assistant city manager. We can’t have large parties. We’re going to be staggering the way people come in. We have high ceilings, and all of our emergency exits are open. It’s like being outdoors in a way. We also have a 2-acre sculpture garden.” Throughout the event, patrons can watch artisans sketch in radiograph, pencil, charcoal and pastels; sculpt and fire clay; chisel, carve and shape stone; scratch and etch on porcelain board; and saw and carve wood sculptures. Artists will also paint in all media; stain and etch gourds; design lost wax casting; design and create jewelry; and assemble mosaics. Art is for sale during the event, and commissions are welcomed. This year marks Taylor’s second year with the exhibition. “It’s unlike any other exhibition,” Taylor says. “There’s so much space and so much time. It’s as if you were living on an island of art and you’re surrounded by art every day.”

UPLIFTING AND COLORFUL Taylor was born in Bavaria, Germany, where she became obsessed with drawing cats. After graduating from her art high school, she began drawing comics, which she exhibited around the country. “I’ve been earning money professionally since 2000 in different ways,” Taylor says. “But I had a problem

with people paying bills on time, which is what happens when you freelance.” At that time, she met her husband, a U.S. Army officer who was stationed Germany. Taylor then opted to colorize skin as a tattoo artist apprentice in Heidelberg. As the new couple moved with the military from Germany to Missouri and then to Seattle, her occupation was perfect. “I was about to starve to death,” she says with a laugh. “Being a tattoo artist was perfect. Wherever there’s military, there are tattoo shops nearby.” Unexpectedly, Taylor found herself called to be a Christian. Her faith brought a new focus point to her love and appreciation for both nature and fellow human beings—and, with that, to her art. “At the beginning, I thought, ‘I’m a rock star,’” says Taylor, who tattoos in Christian tattoo shops. “I can tattoo around the world. It’s a very responsible job. The older I get, I see many kids nowadays who want to get tattoos on their face, and I’m not going to do that.” The couple moved to Prescott, where Taylor was able to indulge. She now enjoys pouring her time and energy into canvas and paint. Taylor says she can’t believe she lives in a state with such diversity. “Critters,” like deer, javelina, coyotes and wild horses, visit her garden

daily. “I could go back to my old again, which is oil painting,” she says. “I took classes and became a fan of portrait painting. I seemed to have a knack for it. It’s been a big love of mine. “I still work in a tattoo studio, but I have a high moral standard. I’m happy I have the art. A painting is an offer. You can take it or leave it. It’s not quite a service industry, like tattooing.” Lately, Taylor has been into figurative art, which she describes as uplifting and colorful. She paints portraits of people who fascinate her from the Southwest in a whimsical way. Her latest painting is of a little girl smiling with several skunks on her lap and saguaro nearby. “I love combining that,” she says. “I love portraying people and capturing their spirit and energy in there. I’m fascinated by Arizona.”

Arizona Fine Art Expo 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday, January 15, to Sunday, March 28 26540 N. Scottsdale Road, Scottsdale $20 season pass; $8 seniors and military; free for children 12 and younger 480.837.7163, arizonafineartexpo.com ENTERTAINERMAG.COM

DINING

EAT » EXPERIENCE » INDULGE » SAVOR » DEVOUR » NOSH

SIP. SAVOR. DINE.

Culinary experiences benefit Ryan House By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski

hen Ryan House put its annual fundraiser, the White Christmas Gala, on the backburner due to COVID-19, the staff cooked up a new event—Sip. Savor. Dine. Culinary Experiences. Through the end of January, patrons can peruse a menu to select from a wide array of options from a meal with a top chef or popular eateries. “We were looking for something that people could do to still support Ryan House in a much safer way,” says Ryan House Executive Director Tracy Leonard-Warner. “Everybody’s comfort level is different. We were looking for something that people could do now, if they feel comfortable. It gives them choices of restaurants or takeout, or they can hold on to the gift certificate.” For $10,000, donors can have a personal dinner prepared by chef Alex Stratta from Stratta Kitchen in Scottsdale. A dining experience from places like Barrio Café, Café Monarch, Maple and Ash, and The Henry can be purchased for $5,000. Have a meal catered for $3,500 or a “family fun” package for $1,000. Finally, “accompaniments” is a curated collection of wine for $250. “They all help support respite hours at the house, and the digital menu breaks down what they’re supporting,” Leonard-Warner says. “We felt it was important to keep that in mind.” Patrons can go online and make their

selection, or print a PDF order form if they’d rather send in a check. Ryan House is a 12,500-square-foot home built to provide respite care, pediatric palliative care and end-of-life care as well as appropriate therapies and activities. Ryan House’s programs address the emotional, spiritual and social needs of the family, continuity of care from diagnosis to end of life, expert care provided by its care partners and highly trained staff, and a loving community that offers ongoing support and compassion. Ryan House is the only facility of its kind in the state and only one of three in the country. The home, located at 110 W. Muhammad Ali Way in Phoenix, was supposed to celebrate its 10-year anniversary last year, but the party was derailed due to COVID-19. “We were supposed to have a community breakfast on March 27, and we were expecting about 1,000 people,” says Leonard-Warner, who previously worked for Hospice of the Valley. “We had rescheduled it for August, but nobody knew in the middle of March that we were still going to be struggling with COVID-19. So, instead of having 1,000 people in a ballroom, we did a virtual breakfast and had more than 1,100 people watch.”

Kaylee

Liam

Paisley

Seth

Ryan House Sip. Savor. Dine. Culinary Experiences Through Sunday, January 31 $250 to $10,000 480.653.4829, mageorge@ryanhouse.org ryanhouse.org

The Henry

Stratta

SPOONFUL OF GOODNESS THE ENTERTAINER! MAGAZINE JANUARY 2021

Celebrate National Soup Month at these local eateries By Annika Tomlin

anuary is National Soup month. Winters get chilly in Arizona, so we’re here to celebrate the month and share the best soups in the Valley. Ranging from spicy and savory to the comfort of homecooked soup, these restaurants have something for everyone.

CAFÉ ZUPAS The next-generation kitchens at Café Zupas source 203 premium ingredients each week to create its soups, salads and sandwiches. Add a kick to your day with the pumpkin and chorizo soup. This hearty soup is made with Mexican chorizo, fire-roasted corn, onions, Roma tomatoes, cilantro, black beans and green chiles and mixed with a creamy pumpkin broth. Get a half-sized bowl with a salad or sandwich or a regular bowl for a full meal. Café Zupas, 1935 E. Camelback Road, Phoenix, for additional locations see website, 602.889.7866, cafezupas. com, $4.89-$6.89.

CRUJIENTE TACOS Commonly used to celebrate holidays in Mexican culture, the posole rojo is sure to put you in the spirit. This soup is slow-simmered and full of comfort. It tickles the palate with flavorful Latin layers from the charred tomato and roasted chile-based broth, pork, hominy, lime, jalapeño, onion and cilantro. Dried chile peppers including ancho, guajillo and chiles de arbol are soaked and reconstituted to make the chile paste, which is used to simmer bite-sized pieces of pork until tender in this traditionalstyle soup. CRUjiente Tacos, 3961 E. Camelback Road, Phoenix, 602.687.7777, crutacos.com, $9.

GADZOOKS ENCHILADAS & SOUP Offering a homecooked meal-style soup, Linda’s tortilla soup does not disappoint. Starting with a tomatobased broth with carrots, celery and onion, customers take the creation in their own hands and decide what to include. Accompaniments include roasted tomatillo chicken or green chili pork shoulder for the meats and sauteed spinach mushroom or smashed Jack potato for the veggies. Cover it with asadero or chihuahua cheese or spice it up with mild red sauce or spicy green. Gadzooks, 3313 N. Seventh Street, Phoenix, for additional locations see website, 602.279.5080, gadzooksaz. com, starting at $5.75.

NOODLES & COMPANY Noodles and Company offers more than just its namesake. Available as a small or regular bowl, the Thai chicken soup is a delectable selection that is gluten sensitive. This coconut curry chicken soup combines onion, cabbage, red bell pepper, lemongrass, lime, galangal, turmeric, shiitake mushrooms, carrots and shallots. Noodles & Company, 2000 E. Rio Salado Parkway, Tempe, for additional locations see website, 480.921.3500, noodles.com, $5-$6.25.

PHO THANH Originating in the mid 1880s, pho is a Chinese- and French-style soup. The rice noodles and spices came from China, while the French popularized eating red meat. One of the several phos available at Pho Thanh includes pho tai made with sliced beef in a beef broth that is slow cooked and delicately seasoned with exotic spices. This dish is topped off with fresh Vietnamese garnishes, including the sawtooth herb possessing medicinal properties. Pho Thanh, 1702 W. Camelback Road, Phoenix, 602.242.1979, $4.50.

RED, WHITE & BREW There’s nothing typical about the French onion soup at this Northeast Mesa gem. Filled to the brim in a small crock, the soup is topped with a thick layer of cheese that oozes down the sides. Formerly a regular on the menu, it’s been demoted to a frequent special. It pairs perfectly with the marinated sliced steak salad. Red, White & Brew, 6740 E. McDowell Road, Suite 102, Mesa, 480.807.9393, rwbaz.com, $5.50.

SOUP & SAUSAGE BISTRO Blending the flavors of several Eastern European dishes, including those from Ukraine, Poland and Russia, Soup & Sausage Bistro focuses on high-quality homemade comfort food including its solyanka soup. Offered as a cup or bowl, this thick and spicy gluten-free soup comes with smoked sausage, bacon, potato, pickles and carrots. Add a dollop of sour cream or a side of bread to help cool it down or make it a full meal. Soup & Sausage Bistro, 13240 N. Seventh Street, Phoenix, 480.319.2208, myeurokitchen.com, $5.49-$6.99.

TASTY POT Guests at this Taiwanese restaurant follow a three-step process to create their meal—choose a pot, pick a spice level

and then choose rice or vermicelli or substitute for instant noodles. One of the dozen pot options is the lamb hot soup that contains lamb slices, vermicelli, enoki, mushroom, imitation crabmeat, meatball, fish cake, kamaboko, pork blood rice cake, fried tofu skin, clam, sour mustard, brown beech mushroom, tofu and cilantro. Spice level ranges from none to flaming spicy. Tasty Pot, 66 S. Dobson Road, Suite 148, Mesa, 480.809.6780, tastypotusa.com, $13.99-$18.99

TOMASO’S Standing the test of time, Tomaso’s Italian soups make us excited for the winter. Perfect for any seafood lover, the creamy lobster bisque combines spicy seafood broth, puree of vegetables and lobster, and heavy cream. Made with quality Italian white wine and a seafood stock put together with lobster shells, the sophisticated bisque is rich, velvety smooth with luxe lobster meat pieces in every bite. The key to the bisque is building robust flavors with butter, garlic, mirepoix, which has onion, carrot and celery, and tomato paste. Tomaso’s 3225 E. Camelback Road, Phoenix, 602.956.0836, tomasos.com, $12.

VEGAN HOUSE Vegan House serves quality vegan food created with authentic Asian spices that boast a flavorful meal for a healthier lifestyle. The restaurant uses vegan meats and seafood that taste like the real thing. That includes the tom kha soup—a Thai coconut soup with soy chicken, mushroom, tomatoes, onion, cabbage, carrots and exotic herbs in a coconut milk broth. Choose a spice level from mild to medium, hot or Thai hot. Vegan House, 20 W. Adams Street, Phoenix, 602.258.3426, veganhouseaz.com, $13.

ZINQUÉ As the weather cools down, the Euroinspired restaurant Zinqué is a great place to find a flavor-packed soup to enjoy out on the outdoor patio and warm ambiance. The broccoli, spinach and green curry soup is an excellent choice for people wanting a lightweight but fulfilling meal. This creamy vegetarian soup has spice, vitamins, healthy greens and savory curry that will surely add some kick to dinner. Zinqué, 4712 N. Goldwater Boulevard, Suite 110, Scottsdale, 623.745.9616, lezinque.com, $11. ENTERTAINERMAG.COM

OVER THE TOP

The Yard Milkshake Bar bringing elaborate desserts to CityScape By Connor Dziawura

hen it comes to The Yard Milkshake Bar, the growing dessert chain that specializes in overthe-top creations, there are often lines out the doors. That may be the case when local franchisee Kendra Lachmund and her husband, Scott Mills, open a location next to Chico Malo and CVS in CityScape in the early part of 2021. But Lachmund feels the lines are worth the wait. “It really is a concept that we want

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you to be able to share these (milkshakes and sundaes) with other people—or just have that fun experience where you have something that you can show it off on social media but then also enjoy what you’re tasting and know that this is an over-the-top dessert,” Lachmund describes. If The Yard sounds familiar to some people, that’s because they may have seen it on TV. Founders Logan and Chelsea Green pitched the company on an episode of ABC’s “Shark Tank” that aired in November 2019. The husbandand-wife team has seen success since opening the first location in Gulf Shores, Alabama, in 2017—with The Yard quickly growing to 10 locations up till now. In fact, it’s that “Shark Tank” episode that introduced Lachmund—who is a teacher—and Mills—who has experience working with business startups and is now in finance—to the concept. “Basically, we love ice cream,” Lachmund says. “That was something that we did a lot when we first started dating. We’d go all around the Valley and try a new ice cream shop every weekend, and everyone teased us about how much we loved it. “And then we saw on ‘Shark Tank’ one night— we never watch ‘Shark Tank,’ but we happened to that night—The Yard Milkshake Bar, and that was in November (2019). We didn’t think anything else of it.” At that point, The Yard was nothing more to the couple than a place they would like to try it if they ever happened to make it to Gulf Shores. But that changed in February 2020, after the couple tried an “Instagram-worthy” shop in Phoenix and found its ice cream to be “a little bit of a disappointment.” “We were talking about how cool it would be to have a place that both had that Instagramworthy, social media-ready (ice cream) but also tasted good,” Lachmund recalls. “So then we remembered the ‘Shark Tank’ episode that we watched and we applied to be one of their franchises that evening, and then about a month and a half later we

heard from (them).” With the 2,283-square-foot CityScape location—the brand’s 11th—quickly approaching, Lachmund emphasizes that The Yard has “something for everyone.” The dessert chain is based around a variety of specialty milkshakes and sundaes in collectible Mason jars— or customers can build their own from a long list of ice cream flavors, adding to it their choice of toppings, perhaps even a scoop of cookie dough. Speaking of the latter, The Yard emphasizes that its cookie dough is edible raw and at room temperature because its flour is heat treated and no eggs are used. As such, menus go beyond just the milkshakes and sundaes to souvenir Mason jars full of the stuff. “There is cookie dough, which I am all about the cookie dough. That’s probably what I’ll eat mostly of, because I love cookie dough,” Lachmund says with a laugh. Her favorite milkshake, though? The elaborate S’MOREO: Graham Central Station and cookies and cream ice cream in a vanilla iced jar, rolled in crushed Oreos and graham crackers and topped with whipped cream, chocolate drizzle, more crushed cookies and a chocolate dipped s’more. Cookie dough pops, scooped ice cream, floats, specialty bowls and “secret” items are just some of the other menu categories—though items and prices can vary per location. As the Phoenix menu has not yet been revealed, Valley dwellers with a sweet tooth will have to stay tuned. Lachmund says specials rotate around the holidays and events, too, plus each location has its own specialty shake inspired by something specific to the area. “We’re still working on what our specialty shake will be, but we will have one that’s for just Phoenix,” she says. The plethora of toppings for the elaborate desserts—as well as the opportunity for specials—only gets more expansive, with local partnerships a possibility for Lachmund. “We like to partner with local businesses,” she says. “Sometimes in the past, some of the other locations have partnered with a local bakery or a local candy shop and have a specialty milkshake with their candy on top for a certain month to try to bring in that local community support because we are a local business—so we want to be able

to bring in other businesses around to support each other.” Finding it important to support others, it’s important to note Lachmund says The Yard founders Logan and Chelsea have also been supportive throughout the process. “We just felt like they were really people that were really passionate about the work and really supportive, so we decided to move forward,” Lachmund says. “It’s been a fun process learning the ins and outs of how to start a business and how to communicate effectively as a team—so that’s basically where we’re at right now. For the most part, my husband is better at the business (logistics) side of it; I’m more of the ‘I want to tell everyone about it’ side of it. “It’s been cool to get to know—with our location being at CityScape—the background of how other businesses got started in CityScape, and working with Red Development and seeing just how all these pieces have to come into place,” she adds. “We didn’t expect it to be easy, but it is kind of a big process to get things going—and things that you don’t think of come up and then other things slide into place easily. So, it’s just been fun to see how things are working out so far.”

The Yard Milkshake Bar CityScape, next to Chico Malo and CVS Early 2021 theyardmilkshakebar.com

SUPER FOOD The perfect accompaniments

THE ENTERTAINER! MAGAZINE JANUARY 2021

to football’s biggest game By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski

he Super Bowl isn’t just about football. It’s a good excuse to chow down. But it doesn’t have to be cheese trays or appetizers. Don’t punt—plan your meals with these eateries.

BLACK ANGUS STEAKHOUSE The steakhouse’s new to-go packs include a generous spread of game-time eats complete with beer or wine, perfect for the ultimate at-home happy hour and priced at $29.99. Available from 3 to 9 p.m., the Happy Hour To-Go Packs include Black Angus’ fan favorite appetizers, like loaded potato skins, three-cheese garlic bread, crispy fried garlic-pepper zucchini and a steak quesadilla. A bottle of house wine or a four-pack of beer are options, as are signature batch cocktails like strawberry lemonade drop and the gold strike margarita. There are locations in Glendale, Chandler, Goodyear and Mesa. Info: blackangus.com

AIOLI GOURMET BURGERS Aioli Gourmet Burgers is offering the Super Bowl Party @ Home, delivered directly to homes. The package feeds 15 to 18 people and costs $299. Fans select one bar option—burgers and tacos. All orders must be submitted by 3 p.m. Tuesday, February 2, for delivery on Sunday, February 7. The delivery

fee within 15 miles of 85020 is $10; additional fees apply outside of 85020. Three locations in Phoenix and Litchﬁeld Park. Info: info@aioliburger.com

MY PIE PIZZA My Pie Pizza’s Super Bowl Party Pack doesn’t require a preorder. The options are any three pizzas, garlic knots and a dozen wings for $30. The restaurant is located at 12601 N. Tatum Boulevard, Phoenix; or 3765 S. Gilbert Road, Gilbert. Info: 602.992.2575 or 480.268.7738, respectively, pizzayourway.com

My Pie Pizza

TDORIGINALS AND ODV WINES These treat boxes keep a small group satisfied. They are selling charcuterie boards with a variety of meats, cheese, pickles and vegetables, along with Noble Bread. The sweet and savory platter includes homemade Rotel dip and tortilla chips, caramelized onion dip and potato chips, pimento cheese and crackers, its own Chex Mix and its original bacon pecan brittle. The tasty bites box features small treats like chocolate chip cookies, brownies, lemon bars and hatch green chile bars. Items must be preordered, and they will be available for curbside pickup. Wine can be ordered, too. Tracy Dempsey Originals is located at 325 W. University Drive, Tempe. Info: 602.376.9021, tracydempseyoriginals.com

TDOriginals

Aioli Gourmet Burgers ENTERTAINERMAG.COM

MIDCENTURY COOL

Hula’s owner goes from touring to tikis By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski

ana Mule traveled the world with New Kids on the Block providing security for singer Jonathan Knight. Screaming girls, autograph hounds and concerts filled his days. When he met his wife, he quit traveling. So, he, in time, opened a restaurant— Hula’s Modern Tiki. “The only thing more insane with more hours than the restaurant business is the event business,” Mule says with a laugh. “The entertainment business has no hours. There’s no 9 to 5. It’s every holiday, every weekend, every night. Going from working 90 hours a week to 75 is a reprieve.” The first Hula’s opened on Central Avenue in September 2009—right when the economy collapsed and fell apart. “We thought, ‘Alright. We can stop or we can just roll the dice and see what happens,’” he says. It worked out well for him. He’s opened three restaurants, including the location on High Street—his favorite. “I really like the way this one turned out,” he says. Hula’s Modern Tiki explores Polynesia with dishes like bali hai barbecue ribs, served with mango barbecue sauce, sweet potato fries and slaw ($13/$20); island-style poke with raw ahi, soy sauce, sesame oil, avocado, onions, macadamia

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nuts and wonton chips ($13); and the Loco Moco, a burger patty and rice, covered in brown mushroom gravy and sunny-side up eggs ($12). “Then we have other fusion dishes that my business partner, Craig (Delaney), picked up from his years of living in Hawaii,” he says. “I like the spicy Thai chicken bowl. It’s probably my favorite dish and one of our best-selling dishes,

for that matter.” Mule doesn’t take credit for the concept. Instead, it came from Hula Island Grill in Monterrey, California. One day, on a whim, he approached the owners, Chris and Craig Delaney. “I was in there one night,” he recalls. “I had met my wife, and I knew that I couldn’t be on the road 310 days a year anymore. I was trying to figure out what I was going to do with the rest of my life. I thought, ‘I should ask these guys— whom I’ve never met—to come to Phoenix and open a restaurant with me?’ I didn’t have any restaurant experience. It seemed like a great idea, though.” Mule eventually became friends with the owners. Three years and seven months after he met them, he opened the doors to Hula’s Modern Tiki. “I am a firm believer that if you want to do something in this country, you can do it,” he says. “I’m a living example of that. They shouldn’t have even given me the time of day. “This concept is slightly different than the one in Monterrey,” he says. “This is a locally owned business, and this is more urban and slick.” A McCormick Ranch resident, Mule keeps the menu at Hula’s consistent. “I go to specific restaurants because there are things there that I like,” he says. “Not that I won’t try other things, but I want what I crave. I don’t want to go in a restaurant and discover the thing I love the most is gone. So, we tend to leave it relatively consistent. It’s a big menu. “I think when you have that one-page

menu—which has become kind of hip lately—the purpose of that is to rotate it and make it different all the time.

PROTECTING STARS Mule toured with New Kids on the Block from 1990 to 1993, during the peak of the group’s career. His resume also included a stint protecting Duff McKagan of Guns ’N Roses during the recording of “Use Your Illusion.” “I did a lot locally, too,” he says. “If anyone threw you out of a concert, the event staff guys took care of it. Those guys worked for me. “I still miss certain aspects of that.” He’s remained friends with Knight, with whom he has a lot in common. “Even though I was the bodyguard and he was the performer, we went through the same things together,” he says. “It’s nice to be able to talk to someone about something we shared 30 years ago—particularly if you’re in a group of other people. We can tell them what it was like. He and I both know what it was like.” Mule says it wasn’t nerve-wracking to enter a new field. After all, he’s witnessed the worst in people through his previous career. “There’s nothing scarier than having Deftones call the crowd out,” he says. “It became a thing where (fans) would take over the concession stands and pull anything burnable out of the concession stands and build bonfires on the lawn and GA section. Once you’ve

THE ENTERTAINER! MAGAZINE JANUARY 2021

been through that, this business seems relatively sedate.” Hula’s is like traveling out of the country, without doing so, Mule says. Chris Delaney is the “design mind” behind Hula’s, Mule says. “It’s like getting away somewhere without going anywhere, which is what I think has been part of the appeal for us over the last eight or nine months,” Mule says. “A lot of people aren’t flying. You can’t go to Hawaii. You can’t go anywhere. You can come to Hula’s for a couple hours. If you close your eyes and you have enough drinks, it’s like you’re somewhere else, but you really didn’t have to leave town to do it.” Besides food, Hula’s is heavy on cocktails like Hula’s Painkiller (Appleton’s gold rum, coconut, pineapple and orange juice, $9); Dr. Funk (coconut rum, vodka, crème de banana, pineapple and orange juice, $9); and Tiki Bastard (gin, bourbon, pomegranate syrup, lime juice, cock ’n’ bull ginger brew, $9). “We’re a very cocktail-driven concept,” says Mule, who is planning to expand his brand. “I think the benefit of doing that is having a wide variety of things for people to drink, to enjoy.” The vibe is important to Mule as well. Besides the Polynesian theme, Hula’s exudes midcentury cool. “I like having grown up when I did, but if I had to pick another time to grow up, it would have been in the ’60s,” Mule says. “I would have been in a black suit and a thin tie, hanging out with the Rat Pack in Vegas in 1960.

“I think this concept brings it all back. It has a very midcentury feel to it, for sure, which is one of the reasons I’ve always embraced it and really enjoy it.”

Hula’s Modern Tiki 5450 E. High Street, Suite 101, Phoenix 5114 N. Seventh Street, Phoenix 7213 E. First Avenue, Scottsdale hulasmoderntiki.com

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BEER AND WINE

SIP » BREW » RELAX » EXPERIMENT » REFRESH » TOAST

BEERS FOR BURROWING OWLS

Wren House Brewing and Audubon release U-9 lager By Tara Alatorre

eers and burrowing owls may seem like an odd match, but not when it comes to Wren House Brewing Company’s recently released U-9 lager made in collaboration with Audubon Southwest, Wild at Heart Raptor Rescue and Sinagua Malt. This crisp lager is named after, U-9, a local burrowing owl who is well known for exhibiting a profound amount of bravado. Not only was U-9 captured and released successfully on three occasions, but his attitude and burrow-decorating skills were particularly impressive. He stands out as a hallmark to researchers who’ve been observing the species for decades. Besides the U-9 lager recognizing one of Arizona’s notorious wildlife characters, the intent of the beer is to bring awareness to the burrowing owl’s habitat loss and the need for volunteers at Audubon and Wild at Heart’s urban owl relocation program called Downtown Owls. The Audubon was already connected to the brewing industry through the Western Rivers Brewers’ Council, which is a coalition of conservation-minded breweries that support protecting rivers across the Colorado River Basin through advocacy and outreach. Having already successfully released collaborative brews, Audubon knew this would be the perfect way to bring awareness to the plight of the burrowing owl. Steven Prager is an outreach biologist with Audubon Southwest who helped bring the U-9 lager to fruition. “We started thinking about how we could stand on that concept of using beer to connect with conservation topics,” Prager says. “Breweries have a lot to offer. It is a different voice for the same goals.” He explains Audubon wanted to share action opportunities for Downtown Owls with the diverse craft beer community. Besides the obvious connection of birds, Audubon reached out to Phoenix’s Wren House because it is tied to the community and its can art “really tells a great story.” The beer is available through brewery’s website. “People who are getting locally crafted ENTERTAINERMAG.COM

beer are doing it for a reason, and they are the right target for wanting to take action,” he says, explaining how craft beer is a way for the Audubon to reach a new, diverse community. Prager says you can’t talk about conservation topics without discussing water, and it’s also why the U-9 lager is made with 100% Arizona-grown grain from Sinagua Malt in Verde Valley. They conserve water by working with farmers to switch to less water-intensive agriculture like malting barley that is used for beer. “Beer is a great way to tell a compelling story,” he says. Compelling is exactly why Greg Clark immediately thought of U-9 when he first caught wind of the collaboration brew. Clark has been the burrowing owl habitat coordinator for Wild at Heart Raptors in Cave Creek since 2001 and is an integral part of Arizona’s success in relocating burrowing owls. He invited the brewers at Wren House to come see U-9 while they were brainstorming about the collaboration back in March. They were smitten with the charismatic, small owl, and that is when U-9 lager was officially born. “Talk about punching above your weight,” Clark says when explaining why U-9 is so special. “This bird really has attitude.” Clark explains that male burrowing owls demonstrate dominance by decorating their burrows, which is usually with natural things found in the desert. The owls try to claim the same burrow each mating season. Despite having to be rescued and released on multiple occasions due to injury, U-9 always returned to lavishly decorate the same burrow. “He decorates the burrows with colorful, manmade objects, like ornamental colored corn cobs, and no one knows where he got it. I’ve never seen an owl do that, ever,” Clark says. Although the owls live in underground dens, they are not capable of digging their own. They take over deserted burrows of other animals, like coyotes, skunks and squirrels, which is why they are disproportionately affected by development and construction. It not only displaces them, but it also diminishes the desert habitat, pushing out other species it depends on for burrows.

Downtown Owls’ artificial habitats are made in safe areas, typically near agricultural land or designated open space to provide hunting grounds for the owls. When the climate is right and the habitats are built, the rescued owls are banded then taken to the manmade burrows. Tents are placed over the habitats containing the owls, and volunteers feed them daily for four weeks. “This bridges the gap until they are self-sufficient,” he says. The tents let the owls see outside to acclimate and create a new territory. Volunteers observe the owls for about five weeks after the tents are removed. “We almost never have anyone that signs up to volunteer and cancels. People love to do the feeding and enjoy the entire experience,” Clark says. “It is very hard to find a volunteer, but once we do, they are in it for life.” Wild at Heart has about 300 burrowing owls waiting to be relocated. Although there is a real need for Downtown Owls volunteers, Clark says they also desperately need more land

because they are running out of places to build artificial habitats. “I need farmers or people with land that we can relocate owls to or that have land next to agriculture or parks,” he says, emphasizing how costly it is to feed the owls in captivity. To date, the Downtown Owls Project has saved over 500 owls and engaged over 3,000 volunteers, according to Cathy Wise, the community science manager for Downtown Owls. She says it is much harder to recruit volunteers to the newest habitat location, Powers Butte, which is near Gila Bend, compared to their other urban locations. She considers the U-9 lager a success because it’s already recruited a new volunteer. “In the summer, Audubon Southwest plans on releasing another collaboration brew that will highlight U-9’s mate, and it will have a brighter label that tells the story of hope and perseverance,” Wise says. To volunteer or help burrowing owls, visit bit.ly/36AaRtW. Those with land that can be used for habitat, contact Greg Clark at 480.688.0118.

ROOSEVELT ROW GETS LUCKY THE ENTERTAINER! MAGAZINE JANUARY 2021

Craft cocktail and food truck concept comes to town By Annika Tomlin

estaurateur Julian Wright is best known for his Pedal Haus Brewery, La Bocca Pizzeria and Canteen Modern Tequila Bar

concepts. Now he’s bringing Luckys Indoor Outdoor, a craft cocktail and food truck fare concept, to Downtown Phoenix’s Roosevelt Row Arts District. “I’ve been intrigued by the Roosevelt Row area for many years, and I have a close personal friend who works with True North, which is my landlord at this location,” Wright says. “He invited me down to look at this particular location, which was a onestory brick law office building. I just thought the building was really cool and kind of fit the theme of a concept that I’ve been working on at the time.” The bar features a 4,000-square-foot dog-friendly outdoor patio that will have fire pits, garden lighting, bocce ball, picnic tables and live music on the weekends following the grand opening. In addition, there is the 2,400-squarefoot indoor space, a lounge, and dive bar games like pool and skee-ball. “For some reason I have zero memory of how I came up with Luckys,” Wright says. “The Indoor Outdoor is just kind of the nod to the fact that we have two pretty distinct different environments. “The inside is lots of red lights, wood paneling, vintage neon signs and pool tables. It’s kind of a darker feel than the outside, which is kind of the opposite. Obviously, it’s outdoors, picnic tables, bocce court and various food trucks coming and going.” For the décor, Wright enjoyed hunting

through OfferUp and antique stores for vintage neon signs to be placed inside the bar. As for the food, Luckys will have a rotating list of food trucks including Wildfire, Salsa Bites and Cousins Maine Lobster. “The food trucks will be on our property,” he says. “It’s not like you have to put your drink down and go outside, get your food and come back in. You’ll be able to take your drink, your beer or whatever with you to the food truck and sit at a picnic table right by the food truck or play bocce ball.” Wright believes wholeheartedly in the cocktail concept. Each area will have its

own offerings. “Basically, we finally broke the list into two parts: We got the indoor part, which is more spirit forward, and then we got the outer part, which is more tropical and citrus forward,” Wright says. “The cocktail menu is pretty well divided between the two styles of drinks.” Some of the drinks listed on the menus include the French Canadian, a twist on an old-fashioned and an Irish bird, which swaps Jameson for rum with pineapple juice, peach, lemon and Carpano bitter. “They’re all pretty freaking phenomenal,” Wright says.

Wright hopes to have a grand opening for Luckys in mid-January, following health protocols. Luckys complies with COVID-19 protocols and state regulations with an enforced mask policy and social distancing in effect. He will also extend his hours to allow for live music on the weekends. “I really enjoy creating concepts. Everything from the name, the branding, the location, the décor, the playlist, the uniforms—I enjoy that,” Wright says. “The creative side is probably the side that I enjoy the most. “To use a cliché, it really does take a village, because there are a lot of humans involved to make a restaurant or bar successful. It’s a lot of personalities to manage. It’s a lot of expectations to manage. It’s a lot of work to execute consistently and to get everyone to row in the same direction. But once you’re altogether and your restaurant or bar is successful, it’s an incredibly good feeling.” Wright will open three additional concepts in the Roosevelt Row area early this year, including Kähvi Coffee Company, Sake Haus that will serve sushi and sake, and the third location of Pedal Haus Brewery. “We’ll be assisting in reactivating the Monorchid gallery space (that normally hosts) art shows, food events, music events, weddings, private parties—all that kind of stuff,” Wright says.

Luckys Indoor Outdoor luckysphx.com Instagram: @luckysphx ENTERTAINERMAG.COM

SPORTS

CHEER Âť HIT Âť HIKE Âť LEAD Âť ROOT Âť COMPETE

SKATINâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; FOR LEIGHTON The Arizona Coyotes plan to honor late superfan By Nicholas Barker

ast year was a year like no other. Unspeakable tragedies and a global pandemic have shut down most of the world for the last 10 months. As 2020 came to a close, the Arizona Coyotes and the Valley suffered more heartbreak. Leighton Accardo, a 9-yearold Coyotes superfan, died after battling stage four malignant germ cell cancer since May 2019. In 2020, about 606,520 people died of cancer in the United States, but when it takes a life of someone who is so loved and known, it hurts even more. The Gilbert girl played youth hockey for the Arizona Kachinas, which is run by the Arizona Coyotes, and signed a one-day contract with the â&#x20AC;&#x2122;yotes before a game against the Calgary Flames. To honor her life and legacy, the Coyotes will host Skatinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; for Leighton, which will feature Lyndsey Fry, the Arizona Kachinas Hockey Association president. During the event, Fry will rollerblade across the Valley, stopping at hockey rinks along the way. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 96 milesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;in honor of the Coyotes coming to the Valley in 1996. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m going to start at Phoenix Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Hospital, then Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll be going to AZ Ice Arcadia, Ice Den Chandler, AZ Ice Gilbert, Coyotes Community Ice Center, Oceanside in Tempe and then up to the Ice Den in Scottsdale, over to the Peoria rink and ending at Gila River Arena,â&#x20AC;? Fry says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It is probably going to take me about 11 or 12 hours, so Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m probably thinking Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m going to go from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.â&#x20AC;? The eventâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s date will be secured soon. Fry is hoping fans will meet her along her journey across the Valley. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Hopefully people will show up to the rinks and say hi,â&#x20AC;? says Fry, a former

Olympic hockey player. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I know a lot of people want to throw their skates on and skate around at some different parts. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s going to just be me because of a safety standpoint, but I hope people throw their rollerblades on and are skating a little bit.â&#x20AC;? The event was planned before the death of Leighton, whose parents are Jeremy, a New York Mets assistant pitching coach, and Carly Accardo. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It was going to be more of a season kickoff and a small fundraising component in honor of Leighton, but when we found out how sick she really was and how little time she had left, it was like a full 180. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re going all-in on this,â&#x20AC;? Fry says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m thankful that I am able to use my platform to make a difference and ensure that her legacy

stays alive forever.â&#x20AC;? Leightonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s legacy includes her involvement in and her love for womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sports, especially youth hockey. Leighton wore No. 49 for the Arizona Kachinas, and the Coyotes are considering retiring the number. The Leighton Accardo Scholarship fund has been introduced to help get young girls involved in and excited about hockey. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been a lot of talk of growth in the sport and how do we get young girls involved in hockey and trying it out,â&#x20AC;? says Fry, also the Coyotesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; director of external engagement and female hockey. â&#x20AC;&#x153;For those girls who want to play, it could really be a life-changing difference for them to play. If they canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t afford it, how do we help those kids with these funds? Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re going to do everything we

The Insiderâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Guide to Arizona Entertainment

can to ensure that girls like Leighton are able to play.â&#x20AC;? The Coyotes are hoping to raise $49,000 for the scholarship fund, to honor Leightonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s number. So far, almost $10,000 has been raised, and Fry expects to meet the goal. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think we will continue to have waves of donations coming through,â&#x20AC;? Fry says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve had a number of people reach out to me who want to donate but they just havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t had the chance to yet. I think we are also going to get corporate sponsors who are going to want to donate to this cause.â&#x20AC;?

Skatinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; for Leighton nhl.com/coyotes/community/ skatinforleighton PHX METRO Âť JANUARY 2020

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THE ENTERTAINER! MAGAZINE JANUARY 2021

Torey Lovullo says the postseason was tough for the D-backs By Dave Hogg

orey Lovullo knows the 2021 baseball season isn’t going to be normal. The Arizona Diamondbacks manager just isn’t sure how weird it is going to get. The 2020 season was unlike anything baseball has ever seen and, with luck, unlike anything the sport sees for a long time. The COVID-19 pandemic hit its first peak during Spring Training, shutting down the sport until the summer. A 60-game sprint was played in August and September with expanded rosters, a plethora of rule changes, no minor-league teams, and constant schedule shuffling as different teams were forced to shut down due to coronavirus outbreaks. Even the final game of the World Series saw the Dodgers end a long championship drought with a COVID-19-positive player, Justin Turner, taking part in the celebrations. With two vaccines now approved by the FDA, Major League Baseball (MLB) and the Player’s Association (MLBPA) expect to have something close to a normal summer. However, like everyone, Lovullo isn’t sure how it is going to work. “We were one of the first sports to come back, and we were all a little nervous,” he says via Zoom. “But as the season went on and we followed the new protocols and restrictions, I realized it was doable. “Knowing what I know now, I’m very hopeful the 2021 season can be played in full, but I’m sure there are going to be some different components than we’ve had in the past.” The MLBPA says it is expecting Spring Training to start on time, followed by a 162-game season, but the availability of vaccines could change that. Not only could widespread vaccination make things safer for the players and coaching staffs, it could speed the return of fans. No one expects professional athletes to get priority in the vaccination line, so it could make financial sense to delay the season until games could take place in something like a normal atmosphere. “I don’t know the answer to how MLB is going to handle that—I don’t even have my own expectations,” Lovullo says. “Obviously, the front-line health care workers need to get the vaccine first, and that process has started this week. I’m thankful for that. I’m sure when it is time for baseball to get the vaccine it will be offered to us.”

While the Dodgers will cherish the shortened 2020 season, Lovullo and the Diamondbacks organization wish they could forget it ever happened. They were optimistic in March and still hoping for good things as the season finally began in August, but it was a disaster. There was one bright spot—a six-game winning streak that had Arizona at 1311 on August 18. That would have given them the National League’s seventh seed in the expanded postseason, but it didn’t last. The Diamondbacks only scored eight runs in the next six games—all losses—and they ended going 2-18 to drop into last place in the NL. In a 162-game season, a 15-29 start can be overcome—the 2019 Washington Nationals were 19-31 before winning the World Series—but it was a catastrophe for Arizona. By the time they came out of the slump, there were fewer than three weeks left to play. They did well, going 10-6, but that left them four games behind the Milwaukee Brewers for the final playoff spot.

“To be totally honest, I was pretty bitter for the first few weeks of the offseason,” Lovullo says. “Watching the postseason was a tough pill for me to swallow, and I think that’s true of everyone in the organization. We didn’t hit the ground running, and we had that 20-game stretch where we just didn’t play good baseball.” The strong finish made things even worse for Lovullo. “We were playing better baseball and, if we had more time, I think we would have run some teams down,” he says. “I’m comfortable about that. But we knew the rules going into the season, and we didn’t get it done.” It isn’t hard to figure out where things went wrong. Arizona’s pitching staff had a decent season, especially given the hitter-friendly confines of Chase Field, but the offense was a disaster. “There are conversations already being held about how we can be a better offensive team,” Lovullo says. “We took some time to absorb what happened, and now we’re putting our

thoughts together.” The Diamondbacks will also need a better season from Madison Bumgarner, who only won a single game after signing a massive five-year contract in free agency. “We all saw Bum have a very frustrating season,” Lovullo says. “He wasn’t at his competitive best, but he still threw some very good games. As for why he wasn’t at his best, I think we all can think of some reasons. “We had the stop, delay and then starting again with Spring Training 2.0, and his stuff just never took off the way he expected. “But he kept grinding, and I know he’s been working very hard during the offseason. I’m excited to see how he comes to Spring Training.” Lovullo doesn’t know when that will be or what it will look like, but he wishes it could be even sooner than February. “We’re a good organization with good baseball players,” he says. “We’re going to find a way to make sure that shines through in 2021.” ENTERTAINERMAG.COM

BRINGING THE FUN

Phoenix Open aims to sustain the energy with less fans By Nicholas Barker

he Waste Management Phoenix Open’s enormous crowds, the thunderous cheers and the countless festivities will have to wait another year due to the rapidly spreading COVID-19. The event will welcome a limited number of fans this year. Scaled-down structures are under construction around TPC Scottsdale’s 16th hole, which will be available to fans who purchase the package to attend the famous par-3 hole. Tickets are $500 to have a headshot in primary visibility, and $250 to be in secondary visibility as a virtual fan. Tournament Chairman Scott Jenkins knows the tournament will not be the same without the record crowds, but he still anticipates having excited fans at the tournament each day. “As we continue dialogue with the ENTERTAINERMAG.COM

PGA Tour and the city of Scottsdale, ultimately, we would like to land between 5,000 and 8,000 fans a day,” Jenkins says. The maximum of 8,000 fans per day will not compare to the over 700,000 fans the tournament has seen in recent years, but Jenkins still believes the week of February 1 to February 7 will provide great moments. “I still think it is going to be an amazing venue to watch golf,” Jenkins says. “The golf course is beautiful, and it is really going to serve two different purposes. If you want to watch some of the best golfers in the world, that opportunity is there. The 16th hole is going to be a single-deck structure, but it is still going to be the largest structure in golf. It is our goal to make it as fun and exciting as it usually is.” Part of the annual golf tournament is the raucous Coors Birds Nest Concert Series, which features prominent singers and performers each year. However, due

to COVID-19, it has been canceled. “We decided we had enough on our plate with the golf tournament,” Jenkins says. “A super majority of the money comes from the golf tournament, so we decided to cancel Birds Nest and focus on what we do best, which is the golf tournament.” A majority of the hospitality suites and structures will not be built this year due to the number of limited fans, and as of right now, fans can only buy packages for the 16th hole. The packages range from $12,000 to $16,000. No word yet on general admission. “It’s our intention to try and make it work with general admission,” Jenkins says. The Waste Management Phoenix Open has been nothing but spectacular each year. From Tiger Woods’ ace at the 16th hole in 1997 to the robot hitting a hole-in-one on the 16th hole in 2016, the tournament has always had its incredible moments. The event has won tournament of the year four of the last

six years, including 2014, 2015, 2018 and 2019. It has made itself a gold standard of professional golf. “If you have watched golf for the last six months, you see how the PGA Tour and its TV partners have done an incredible job showing the game without fans,” Jenkins says. “It’s just going to be different. We get attendance of 30,000 to 40,000 people on Monday or Tuesday, where it is a practice round. “It’s a giant, 192-acre golf course where people are going to be spread out. It’s going to be a different vibe, but I think it will be a great experience for those that go.”

Waste Management Phoenix Open Various times Monday, February 1, to Sunday, February 7 17020 N. Hayden Road, Scottsdale wmphoenixopen.com

THE ENTERTAINER! MAGAZINE JANUARY 2021

FAMILY

FROLIC » DISCOVER » IMAGINE » FAMILY » FUN » CONNECT

BEST-KEPT SECRET

The Hall of Flame was born out of one man’s hobby By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski

hicago-area industrialist George F. Getz Jr. and his wife, Olive Atwater Getz, were driving through Wilmette, Illinois, when they saw a broken-down fire truck on the side of the road. George casually remarked he would like the 1924, Type 12 American La France fire engine. Considering the Globe Corp. chairman had everything, Olive surprised him with the old fire engine for Christmas in 1955. The gift led to a hobby on his part of collecting antique and historic firefighting equipment. This resulted in his creating the Hall of Flame Museum of Firefighting, now located in Phoenix, in 1961. It houses the world’s largest collection of firefighting equipment and memorabilia. “Somehow they kept it a secret from him,” says Mark Moorhead of the Hall of Flame Museum about George’s present. “It was really, basically, intended as a gag gift, but he went nuts. He loved it. He gave the neighborhood kids rides in it. He just really became enamored of firetrucks. He started to collect more and more and more of them.” He organized the National Historical Fire Foundation as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization to promote the museum’s programs. The Hall of Flame Museum of Firefighting is one of the Valley’s

best-kept secrets. After a stint in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, it opened its present building in Phoenix’s Papago Park in 1974. The hall has grown from its original single gallery to five exhibit galleries, the National Firefighting Hall of Heroes, the museum store, a theater, a restoration shop, a collection storage building and administrative offices. In its 70,000-square-foot space are 130 wheeled pieces and thousands of smaller artifacts. “We’re the largest historical firefighting museum in the world,” Moorhead says. “There are around 200 firefighting museums in the United States and quite a few in other countries as well. We have items from all over the world, really, to trace the social and technological history of firefighting.” The museum tells the story from the bucket brigade to the 21st century. “It’s like you see in the Western movies, when the church is on fire, for example,” he says about the bucket brigade. “You have the famous bucket brigade, where they pass up and down the line and the last person gets as close as he can to the fire, which usually isn’t very close. He tries to throw the bucket of water on it. “It’s a terrible way to fight a fire, but it was all they had. As civilization developed and towns and cities got bigger, they had a lot of incentive to find a better way to fight fires in a more

technological way.” The oldest piece in the museum is from 1725—seven years before George Washington was born. “This one is so old that it doesn’t have a good hose,” Moorhead says. “Instead of the last guy in line feebly throwing his bucket of water on the fire, he would pour it into a tub that held about 80 gallons of water. “You’d have the crew guys on either side pumping it out, up and down.” The water sprayed out of a rigid, brass pipe—a branch pipe—and it angled up so the firefighters didn’t have to get right on top of the fire. They could arc it through a front door or, perhaps, a porch window. They could also hose down trees, bushes and the neighbors’ houses. “It wasn’t just your house that would burn,” Moorhead says. “Three or four of your neighbors’ houses could burn, or the whole city block. Whole towns were known to burn. “It seems really primitive, but it was this huge leap forward over the bucket brigade. It’s essentially just a giant squirt gun, but it’s a pretty powerful squirt gun.” From the old news to recent news— the Granite Mountain Hotshots are remembered in the museum. They were killed in the Yarnell Hill Fire, the sixth-deadliest American firefighter disaster and the state’s deadliest wildfire. The museum houses one buggy used to transport the hotshots on the last day of their lives. “This is one of the few pieces that’s here that we don’t own,” Moorhead says.

“This one belongs to the Los Angeles County Fire Museum. The vice president of that museum’s son died (in Yarnell). “The vehicles sat in a city garage up in Prescott for a number of years. Then, they took them out to be in that movie (‘Only the Brave’). Finally, Prescott said they were going to sell it as surplus city property. This guy in LA didn’t want to see this stuff sold. So, he got an anonymous donor, who turned out to be the actor Randolph Mantooth, to donate $25,000. He put up a single bid of $25,000. We’ve had it for years, and we’ll probably have it for years more. If they ever build a museum of a facility of some kind in Prescott that would accommodate this, they’ll probably get it.” Mantooth starred in the 1970s medical drama “Emergency!” The Granite Mountain Hotshots exhibit is part of the National Firefighting Hall of Heroes, which opened in 1998. Other American firefighters who died in the line of duty are remembered, including those from 9/11. (Somber fact: “Saturday Night Live” comedian Pete Davidson’s father is pictured on a wall of 9/11 casualties.) “We think we’re a real world-class facility,” Moorhead says. “The building isn’t fancy at all. It’s just a big warehouse, really.” But what’s in it is worth the trip.

Hall of Flame Museum of Firefighting 6101 E. Van Buren Street, Phoenix 602.275.3473, hallofflame.org ENTERTAINERMAG.COM

‘WE CAN BE HEROES’

Director Robert Rodriguez hopes to inspire next generation By Connor Dziawura

hot topic in the movie industry in recent years has been the growing shift from traditional theatrical releases to athome distribution via internet streaming services—especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and the effect it has had on theaters. Director Robert Rodriguez, who is known in part for the “Spy Kids” series and 2005’s “The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl,” is embracing that change with his new film, “We Can Be Heroes,” which premiered on Netflix on Christmas Day. “I don’t think I would’ve done a movie just for theatrical,” Rodriguez says, acknowledging that younger audiences tend to rewatch films like this. That’s a problem when it comes to theaters and kids can only see a film once—maybe a couple more times if their parents allow—before home release, he says. “But the parents know that once it comes out on video, the kids can just ENTERTAINERMAG.COM

watch it as many times as they want … That doesn’t help us so much for the box office,” Rodriguez explains. He says “Sharkboy and Lavagirl” didn’t do well in theaters for that reason, only garnering its own “rabid fan base” later on home video. “It didn’t make financial sense a lot after a while to make those, because it wasn›t able to ever tell how many kids were actually watching it and benefit from that,” he says, noting that Netflix, on the other hand, can see how many times films like this are rewatched. So, Rodriguez says he was happy when the streamer approached him to make his first film for younger audiences since 2011’s “Spy Kids: All the Time in the World.” “I was just over the moon,” Rodriguez continues. He was so eager to get back into the genre that he came up with a title and story on the spot. That film is “We Can Be Heroes,” in which alien invaders kidnap Earth’s superheroes, known as the Heroics, leading their kids—who have abilities ranging from time control to elasticity— to team up to escape government

protective custody and rescue their parents. Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Pedro Pascal, Adriana Barraza, Boyd Holbrook, Christian Slater, Sung Kang, Hailey Reinhart, Christopher McDonald, J. Quinton Johnson, Brittany PerryRussell, Jamie Perez and Brently Heilbron are part of the adult cast, with Taylor Dooley reprising Lavagirl and JJ Dashnaw stepping in as Sharkboy (previously played by Taylor Lautner). “I love making those movies,” continues Rodriguez, who not only directed but wrote, produced, edited and served as the cinematographer for “We Can Be Heroes.” “I love that kids can just go right to it as many times as they want; they don’t have to be driven to a theater or beg somebody to take them. … Everyone around the world can watch it. And I know they’re going to just eat it up because they’ll have such easy access to it. So that’s what really got me back.” Two of the younger cast members— YaYa Gosselin, 11, and Vivien Blair, 8—are already rewatching it, thanks to preview access. In fact, YaYa’s sisters love it so much that “they just want to

watch it over and over and over and over again.” And Vivien estimates having already seen it four or five times by early December. In the film, Vivien plays Guppy, the newly introduced daughter of Sharkboy and Lavagirl. While she wasn’t familiar with Rodriguez at first, she says she watched “Sharkboy and Lavagirl” the day she got the audition and “Spy Kids” the next morning—plus, her mom did “a lot” of research on the director. “It was really so amazing,” Vivien says of her character’s relation to the two heroes. “I mean, Taylor Dooley was so nice. JJ Dashnaw, who plays Sharkboy, he actually is also the stunt coordinator. … So, he’s a big part of the movie and I’m really glad to have him on our team.” YaYa, who leads the young heroes as Missy Moreno, the daughter of Pascal’s Marcus Moreno, was similarly thrilled to work with the older cast. “To have your dad as the Mandalorian is so cool, and I totally nerded out when I saw him. I was like, ‘Oh my God, he plays my dad,’” she says, referencing Pascal’s role in the Disney+ series “The Mandalorian.”

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(Rodriguez recently directed an episode of the show, too.) She recalls three days filming with just Rodriguez and Pascal as likely being her favorites of the entire experience. She “learned so much” from Chopra Jonas (who plays Ms. Granada, the director of the Heroics) and Barraza (Missy’s grandmother) as well, adding, “And honestly, from everybody, all of the adult cast, I learned something from each of them, and I feel like that’ll stick with me my entire career.” Considering it her first “big” role, YaYa views the film as different from her work on other projects, though. “I feel like a lot of the TV shows and films that I’ve been in are very serious, most of them are rated R, and so this was a very, very, very different experience from all of those,” says YaYa, who has appeared on series such as CBS’ “FBI: Most Wanted,” Netflix’s “13 Reasons Why” and USA Network’s “The Purge.”

Vivien, on the other hand, may perhaps be best known by audiences for her role in the 2018 film “Bird Box.” “I’m just so happy that I have a film that I can show to my sisters and my friends and my family—a movie that’s family friendly and that the entire family can watch,” YaYa says. Though films targeted at younger audiences are hardly new for Rodriguez, he is also known for his work on the “Sin City” and “Machete” films; “Alita: Battle Angel”; “From Dusk Till Dawn”; “Desperado”; “The Faculty”; and “Planet Terror,” his installment of the “Grindhouse” double feature with Quentin Tarantino. Not only does he view films such as “We Can Be Heroes” and his other family-friendly works as a palate cleanser, but he says “it’s also closer to my identity.” “I mean, I grew up in a family of 10. I have five kids of my own. I love those

kinds of stories that the whole family could watch,” he explains, citing his parents taking them to family-friendly films as his favorite experiences growing up. Now making them, he says they “use the totality of your creativity.” “We all have a duality,” he continues. “When we go out at night with our buddies, we’re ‘Machete,’ we’re ‘Sin City,’ but during the day with our kids, we’re ‘Spy Kids,’ we’re ‘We Can Be Heroes,’ we’re in that mode. I like separating those out and getting to have a career where I can do both, because that family is such a big part of my life. “And getting to do these kinds of films that really nurture kids’ imaginations and creativity and inspire them to be better people through these characters, that’s important and it’s needed and it’s necessary now, because they really are the next generation that’s going to save this world that we’ve all obviously

screwed up. So, we have to empower them and validate their ideas because we need them.” While it’s too early to be certain, Rodriguez hopes to expand on the shared universe of “We Can Be Heroes” and “Sharkboy and Lavagirl.” “I came up with a bunch of ideas for future movies, but we have to see how this one does, obviously. I would love to (make more), because we’ve already got a template for more,” he says. “I think it’ll do well, but until it happens, you really can’t say, and then no one can invest money in something until they know they know it›s working. So we’ll see. Hopefully everybody sees it and we can make more. I’d love to make more. They’re so fun.”

Double R Productions’ “We Can Be Heroes” Netflix

A TABLE FOR TWO? Phind it

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MUSIC

LISTEN » JAM » INNOVATE » EVOLVE » ROCK » SING

CELEBRATING A ‘HERO’

David Bowie’s music resurrected for massive livestream By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski

avid Bowie’s longtime keyboardist, Mike Garson, is preparing for a “monstrous” livestream that will feature at least 31 fellow alumni and 25 singers. Ian Astbury of The Cult; William Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins; Joe Elliott of Def Leppard; Perry Farrell of Jane’s Addiction; Corey Glover of Living Color; Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails and Gavin Rossdale of Bush are among the guest vocalists who signed on for the Friday, January 8, “Mike Garson’s A Bowie Celebration.” “Every day, more singers and musicians keep coming on board because it’s an easy ask during the pandemic,” Garson says. “Nobody’s doing anything.”

Bush’s latest album, “The Kingdom: Deluxe Edition,” features a cover of Bowie’s “Heroes” with Garson on piano. “It began with a track I did for him for MusiCares,” Rossdale says. “He rang me up a couple weeks ago and asked me to perform for the five-year anniversary of David’s death. There are going to be several singers. To play with Bowie’s band again is going to be great. I played with them when David died. I love it. It’s a real honor.” Garson says his Bowie tribute shows and this livestream are bittersweet. “I’ve been traveling the last four years doing shows with alumni, playing David’s music,” he says. “I’ve done about 150 shows, and about 100 singers have joined us on these tours.” “Mike Garson’s A Bowie Celebration” will be available for 24 hours. “It’s just a lot of work,” Garson says. “I’m sure you can imagine because each

person has their song they want to do, and which musicians am I using on which song, who’s recording what and in what studio.” Singers and performers are recording bits in Switzerland, Canada, Los Angeles, England and New York. Garson creates music for it for about 15 hours a day, seven days a week. The show is slated to be more than three hours. Livestreams, he says, are the new paradigm. “It’s a new way of doing things,” Garson says. “It could turn out to be a financial disaster or it could turn out to be great or average. Most importantly, I just want 100,000 people to see it because you’re never going to get this many stars in one show.” The number of participants is really a testament to Bowie’s ability to appeal to musicians and beyond.

“There’s been a lot of great, great artists over the years, but the influence that he’s had on other singers who came after him—in fashion and in acting—is the largest of any artists I’ve ever seen,” Garson says. “He’s had the widest net. I’ve probably played for over 1,000 singers in my life as a performer and he’s, by far, the best. I hate to compare. He’s just such an artist. I was hired for eight weeks, and I ended up doing 1,000 shows and 20 albums. I obviously liked it.”

“Mike Garson’s A Bowie Celebration” 7 p.m. Mountain Time Friday, January 8 $25, with additional packages that include swag rollinglivestudios.com

SPLIT PERSONALITY THE ENTERTAINER! MAGAZINE JANUARY 2021

Craig Mabbitt adopts a stage personality for Escape the Fate By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski

scape the Fate singer Craig Mabbitt has one wish for his decade-old band and its fans. “We want people to connect deeply with the music and disappear in it,” says Mabbitt, who grew up in Glendale. “We want them to get lost and then return from the album or show feeling inspired about themselves.” That is exactly the point with “Chemical Warfare,” which launches the next chapter of Escape the Fate’s career upon its February release. Mabbitt says he and his bandmates—guitarist Kevin Thrasher, bassist TJ Bell and drummer Robert Ortiz—had a lot to draw from for “Chemical Warfare.” “The inspiration behind every one of our albums is what our lives have been like from the previous album—our own life, our life experiences, trauma and drama and all the nitty and gritty.” Music helps Mabbitt get out of his own head. With Escape the Fate, he becomes a different character. “The singer of the band is certainly not the human being I am,” he says. “I’m able to perform the songs as if I’m singing for somebody else. A lot of times, I’m singing about me, but I write the song like I’m talking about somebody else. “Chemical Warfare” delivers a mélange of driving rock songs and melodic ballads. Thrasher has been working with the likes of Machine Gun Kelly and Travis Barker on other projects and running from studio to studio to create new music. His packed production schedule in recent times has greatly sharpened his skill set, making “Chemical Warfare” a show of his musical strength. Ortiz is a fan of Gilbert-bred violinist Lindsey Stirling. She makes an appearance on the album, as does Travis Barker of Blink-182.

HOMETOWN HERO Mabbitt was raised in the Northwest Valley and attended Independence and Westview high schools, in Glendale and Avondale, respectively. He dropped out of Westview to begin touring. “Arizona’s home,” he says. “Even when I was growing up in a military household and we had to move around a lot. When we’d move back to Arizona, I was so excited. I went through times where I lived in California, breakups or what have you. When my ex was pregnant with our son, it was a big change in my

whole family’s life. My mom got a job offer in Seattle, and my sister moved.” As for the military, Mabbitt’s grandfather was stationed at Luke Air Force Base and the singer’s first job was as a bagger at the commissary at 13 years old. Mabbitt was always a music fan, but his parents wouldn’t allow him to see a concert until he was in high school. He instantly fell in love. “My first concert was Linkin Park on its ‘Project Revolution Tour,’” he recalls. “I thought if you were in a band those are the types of shows you play. You’re going to play arenas right off the bat. “I had no idea shows happened on a smaller scale until I went to church with my grandma. This local Arizona (metalcore) band—Greeley Estates—

was playing. They said they had a show coming up. My parents were cool with me going because it was a band from church.” Mabbitt now lives with his fiancée where Tempe, Chandler and Ahwatukee all come together. He admits he didn’t take the pandemic so well. “I freaked out a little bit at first,” he says. “It was very uncertain—‘What am I going to do?’ I fell into some old addiction ways. So, I started streaming on Twitch and went to meetings. I’m doing well with that. “I’m now in the best shape I’ve been in since I was 20. I fit into those old shirts in my closet I never thought I’d fit in again. They’re very loose. I just started keeping myself busy.” Despite the ups and downs, Mabbitt is

just happy he’s stuck with music. “I started doing this because music was my ‘escape,’” he says. “I was running from unresolved feelings or chasing things away with a bottle. But music was always there for me. It was a beautiful realization to contemplate the power of music while reflecting on other records. It’s been such an escape for so many people that it puts me in my place. I become so humbled. I’m so grateful, not only that I’m still alive, but that I can get this music out of my head and that it will hopefully help some other people, too.”

Escape the Fate escapethefate.com @EscapeTheFate on Twitter ENTERTAINERMAG.COM

FEELING GRATEFUL

Ryan Butler sees brighter 2021 with new liver By Coty Dolores Miranda

hree months ago, Ryan Butler was cutting his hair and stopped, hair trimmer in hand, and wondered aloud why he was bothering. “I was thinking, ‘Why am I even doing this? What am I doing it for? I might not even be here next week,’” he recalls thinking that October day. Ryan had been diagnosed with Wilson’s Disease, a rare and hereditary liver disease that causes copper to build up in the liver. His mother, Lou Butler, had passed from Wilson’s Disease at age 43— Butler’s age when he received the diagnosis following more than a year of downward-spiraling health that included nausea, sleeplessness, extreme fatigue and difficulty walking. Looking in the mirror last October at age 44, he contemplated his face and future, feeling hope was gone. “I just felt I was done: I didn’t think I’d make it,” he recalls. And right at that pensive moment, his phone rang. A liver had become available and Butler was to report immediately to St. Joseph’s Center for Liver Disease and Transplantation for a possible transplant that very afternoon. It wasn’t the first hopeful call he had received, but the other liver donations hadn’t worked for various reasons. This time he was told that rather than the typical 50/50 chance for a donor match, it looked to be a 90% or better possibility. And it was. The life-saving donated liver came from a Colorado male donor—all the information he was given. “Amy and I walked in the main door

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at the very moment the man with the cooler carrying the liver walked in,” he recalls. Butler, who started Arcane Digital Recording Studio in Chandler in 2004, is a well-known and widely respected guitarist who toured with heavy metal bands Landmine Marathon and Northside Kings throughout North America and Europe. Even touring, the hard-driving, allout heavy metal guitarist didn’t drink alcohol or take drugs. He says from the minute he awoke following the transplant surgery at Dignity Health St. Joseph’s Hospital, he felt better. “I felt the symptoms were gone and I felt a sense of hope,” he says. With him when he awoke was his wife of 12 years, Amy Butler. He credits her for standing strong through the entire process even as she herself suffers from health issues, including fibromyalgia. “She’s just been amazing; she’s really pushed through all this and been there for me,” he says. Butler’s transplant operation was a success and though still recovering, the 20-year Chandler resident says he’s thankful the liver symptoms he’d been living with for years are gone. “There had been a lot of major fatigue, and I itched all the time, which is weird,” he says with a laugh. “And I’d get the hiccups, sometimes 15 times a day. I just always felt kind of sick, like I had a bad flu. And I had glaucoma in one eye, which resulted in cataract surgery.” Certain symptoms had begun as early as 2014 and worsened in 2018. He started having glaucoma issues. He couldn’t help but think of his mother. “Every time I had antibiotics, or they’d

put me under, I’d get sick. I kept telling people to check for Wilson’s disease but they said, ‘No, you don’t have that.’” After losing the sight in one eye, he was checking in for his second cataract surgery and his eighth eye procedure when it was determined Butler had a 103-degree fever he hadn’t even been aware of. His ophthalmologist told him something wasn’t right. “I was told to go get a full blood workup, and that’s what led me to Dr. (Justin) Reynolds. He said I had Wilson’s Disease and if they’d caught it earlier, I possibly could have managed it with medication,” he said. Instead, Butler was facing liver failure and was placed on a liver transplant list. Even when he moved to the top of the list, the matches weren’t there. As he struggled with his failing health and increasing financial worries, friends gathered to aid him and his wife. A GoFundMe page was launched by friend and former Landmine Marathon bassist Matt Martinez. “As a member of the bands Landmine Marathon, Unruh, Northside Kings and many more, he has released music to critical acclaim, toured the world and established countless lifelong friendships,” Martinez wrote. “As the owner and engineer of Arcane Digital recording studio, he produced, engineered, mixed and mastered an impressive catalog of music that fills our record collections.”

The GoFundMe site remains open. Nearly $50,000 of the $80,000 goal has been raised. With 2021 at hand and his new liver making life easier, Butler is optimistic for his future. “I’m very much looking forward to the new year,” he says with a chuckle. “Hopefully, we’ll be all caught up on bills and the business will be running again smoothly. Hoping to not have any health hiccups. “They’ve said at the four-month mark, I can really start exercising hard again, so I plan on mountain biking and camping again as soon as I can build myself back up to it and get this water weight off that’s built up from my liver being so bad for so long. My wife and I would like to travel a little more, too, but we’ll see how that pans out.” According to the United Network for Organ Transplants, there were 8,896 liver transplants in the United States in 2019, an increase of 7.8% from the previous year. Butler has great praise for his physicians. “Dr. Reynolds and his team at St. Joseph’s really guided me through all of this over the last year and a half and will most likely be my team for life. Dr. (Thomas) Chaly did an amazing surgery, and it blows my mind what these people were able to do with science and their talents to save me,” he said. “I couldn’t be more grateful.”

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G N I V RESOL RN U T E R TO

Dominique Hinojosa saves the day with new single By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski

hen Dominique Hinojosa made his 2020 New Year’s resolutions, at the top of the list was

writing a new song. On January 3, he started that project with the support of musicians within his circle of friends. The result is the single “Save the Day,” with former Dokken and Ted Nugent drummer “Wild” Mick Brown under the name Ceasar’s Fall. “My last (original) song was 2018,” says Hinojosa, who performs under the name Cabo Dom and Sons of Kaos for covers. “Before that, it was 20 years ago.” For “Save the Day,” the Cave Creek musician worked with bassist Chris Catero (Marty Friedman, Bourbon Ballet); fellow guitarist Brian Buzard and singer Bobby Sisk from Drop Diezel. “Chris and Bobby worked on the melodies and Chris wrote the lyrics,” Hinojosa says. “He asked what the song was about, and I said what’s going on this year and all the uncertainty— without being political about it. No one really knows everything—that’s the only thing we know for sure when you have doctors arguing with each other.” Hinojosa grew up in the 1980s San Diego-LA Sunset Strip music scene, which inspired him to learn guitar and

start the band Stallion. When Nirvana and grunge music became prevalent, Hinojosa quit playing guitar for nearly 20 years. “Out of the gates, I put together this great band,” Hinojosa says about Stallion. “It was easy to write originals back then, but after 20 years off, I needed to be inspired.” While working for 24 Hour Fitness, Hinojosa moved to Scottsdale to open several clubs in the state. In the Valley, he met Brown and asked, innocently, if he could jam with him. Much to Hinojosa’s surprise, Brown said yes. “I ran into Mick at a blues bar and introduced myself,” Hinojosa says. “I know this sounds silly, but I asked him if he ever jams while he’s in town. He gave me his number, but he said he was on tour with Lynch Mob and Ted Nugent. “I gave him a call after the tour and he answered the phone, which, looking back, I can’t believe he did that. He set up a bass player, and through that relationship I’ve been able to play with a lot of musicians. Mick really helped me get my name out there and inspired me to make my own band.” Hinojosa began managing Brown, and the two formed Bourbon Ballet. Brown’s original band and Hinojosa’s act, the Sons of Kaos, performed their first show at Ramona Main Stage in San Diego. Also on Hinojosa’s resume is a stint

booking local/support bands for BLK Live in Scottsdale. He hit the stage with Don Dokken and Brown during the singer’s solo set at BLK Live. Brown and Catero have been constants in Hinojosa’s life since he moved to the Valley. The trio, along with vocalist Tony Noyes, recorded the 2018 song “Suicide Love.” (The song and “Save the Day” are part of a trilogy that Hinojosa hopes to finish in 2021.) It was only natural to ask Brown and Catero to help him again. The process started with scratch tracks on Hinojosa’s iPad. He took those recordings to Brown to “get the juices flowing.” “He changed some things around, like a couple licks and placement,” says Hinojosa, who worked with Ratt guitarist Jordan Ziff of Scottsdale to hone his skills. “It got to the point where we were satisfied with it in January. We brought it to Chris, and Chris changed the chorus and verse around. We stuck with that.” There was still one missing piece: the lick for the breakdown with the drums. Hinojosa sent it back to Buzard, who had an immediate idea. “After the bass was done and we were done with the guitar, Brian added a layer on top of mine,” he says. “I like that sound, like Guns N’ Roses, of two different guitar players playing different parts, but it sounds great together. He

layered his own licks on top of mine.” Problems related to COVID-19 delayed the project, but, still, the missing link was the vocals. In July, Catero recommended Sisk, who laid down the vocals. Hinojosa peppers his conversation with references to the Mark Wahlberg film “Rock Star.” He jokes that he was fired from his own San Diego band, like Wahlberg’s character, Chris “Izzy” Cole. “Save the Day” hearkens Slash featuring Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators. Kennedy appears in “Rock Star.” “I think the single is cool,” Hinojosa says. “If I was to label it, I would say it sounds like Steel Dragon from ‘Rock Star,’ with Bobby (Sisk’s) voice. It’s kind of Steel Dragon meets Slash with Myles Kennedy. We have the two-guitar player thing. It’s heavy, but I’m really happy with the way it came out. It inspired me to do more. “I’ve had a lot of great feedback from musicians and friends who are really hard critics. They said they didn’t like the last song as much as this one. I’m glad I had the opportunity to do it. That’s the biggest thing. I’m really lucky to be surrounded by great musicians.”

Dominique Hinojosa cabodomrock.com ceasarsfall.hearnow.com ENTERTAINERMAG.COM

‘IT’S FOREVER IN YOU’ David Nail swears by his hometown on new EP By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski

ountry singer David Nail loves living in Nashville. But there’s something about the bootheel region of Missouri that he desperately misses. The Kennett, Missouri, native shares this on his new song “Back Home” from his appropriately dubbed EP “Bootheel.” “‘Back Home’ was very autobiographical for me,” he says. “Something that’s always troubled me is the person who’s so hellbent on leaving their small town or city and putting where they grew up behind them. “That shapes you. If you spend 18, 19 years of your life someplace, I think it’s forever in you. I have a strong fondness and love for where and how I grew up. I’ve felt it’s my duty to never let it go unsaid how much I appreciate everything my friends back home, my family, my teachers, my community and my church have done.” ENTERTAINERMAG.COM

Nail quickly adds, “That was a middle finger to those people who maybe feel like where they grew up held them back in any way, shape or form.” He insists he and his wife, Catherine, will end up back in Missouri. Nail felt the strong pull of home and how important it is during the COVID-19 pandemic. “My hometown is a classic town that’s dying a slow death. A lot of businesses are closing every year,” he says. “A year like this caused a lot of people to struggle. Maybe it’s the old rosecolored glasses thing, but it’s still super endearing to me. I have so many fond memories and friends back home. It’s super special.” Certain cities are like that, though. He cites as a further example one of his best friends—a former NHL player—who’s from Detroit. “Detroit has had a hard run,” he says. “But people who are from Detroit love Detroit. It can get the worst publicity or have the worst crime. It can be the poorest whatever and have the most

negative description possible, but they swear by it. I’ve always loved that.” The pandemic hasn’t been all that bad for Nail, he says. He’s a little annoyed and maybe a tad down, but Catherine was pregnant most of the year, and he had that to look forward to. “It was the classic case of who’s affected more,” he adds. “There are people hurting worse than us. It’s hard to feel bad or feel sorry for yourself too much. People are losing their lives.” He started recording “Bootheel” just before “everything hit the fan.” The EP was put on hold for the majority of the summer. Nail wanted to work on it, but a few of his band members were— understandably—a little nervous about leaving their homes. “I really didn’t think we were going to be able to do anything,” he says. “It was a super bummer because, in 2019, I was really inspired going into 2020. I was excited about what the year had in store, both on the road and I wanted to do four EPs—one a quarter. It basically would have been a record’s worth of material

spread out.” Around Halloween, he called his piano player and asked if they could revisit the songs they started and see how polished they could get them. Nail quickly threw aside those intentions and opted for a stripped-down EP. “Everything happens for a reason,” he contends. “The music fit the vibe of what the year’s been. I knew if I didn’t do it this year and got it out this year, it was going to change drastically in the future or the songs would never be released. “Everybody told me it was crazy to release non-Christmas music in December. It’s 2020. We got it out in the nick of time. I thought about doing a Christmas song as a hidden track so everybody would be happy. But that would totally contradict every other part of the music. I figured I’d just roll with the punches and do it my way.”

David Nail davidnail.com

AN UNEXPECTED EDUCATION Andrew Farriss is inspired by Arizona By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski

ndrew Farriss played to millions of fans as a keyboardist for the legendary rock band INXS. His life is much different now. Farriss and his American-born wife, Marlina Rae Neeley, live a quiet life in the bush in Australia. “We love it,” Farriss says via telephone at midnight Australia time. His music has evolved as well. As INXS’ main composer, he penned a series of hits, including the haunting, bluesy music that accompanied singer Michael Hutchence’s lyrics in “Never Tear Us Apart.” Now, he’s turned to country music. “I love listening to music from all over the world,” says Farriss, who has lived in England and Australia. “I’ve always loved country music. My background is as a songwriter. Country songs tell stories, especially older country songs. They’re real. As a songwriter, that’s what got me.” Farriss recently released the EP “Love Makes the World,” which is available to stream and download on all digital services. The music was inspired by his trips to Arizona and Mexico. “It’s very different,” he says with a laugh. “We took a trip down to the

Mexican border at the Chiricahua Mountains, and I had a first-hand education from Craig Lawson, who sadly passed away. “I didn’t understand what was happening. I thought it was a nice horse-riding thing. But we rode by the national monument, the stagecoach routes and I saw where the cavalry had ridden through and where the Cochise stronghold was.” He thought about the cowboys in Tombstone. Farriss returned several times to New Mexico and Arizona, diving headfirst into the culture. “Something happened to me in Arizona,” he says. “It pushed all my buttons. Something was happening to me where I was becoming involved in culture.” He calls it an unexpected education. “I didn’t see that coming,” says Farriss, who frequently spends time in Nashville. “I didn’t look for it. I was simply trying to have a holiday with my wife.” “Love Makes the World” focuses on the human process and all things that are important. Rather than sit back and wait for the world to deal him a sweet hand, Farriss shows optimism through his music, just when everyone needed it the most. “I think the thing that is interesting about the EP is that the tracks don’t all

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sound exactly the same. It takes you on a journey. It has its own character and style.” “Love Makes the World” also gives fans a peek into Farriss’ solo efforts, a project he has been working on for more than a decade. “I was actually going to release my self-titled LP, ‘Andrew Farriss,’ before the pandemic hit and plans shifted,” he says about the album now slated for release this year. “The five-song concept of ‘Love Makes

the World’ was born by accident as the world was and still is struggling with the pandemic and trying to contain it.” The pandemic, he adds, is a time to reflect on family and the people closest to us and “how the hell we’re going to get out of this thing.” Farriss isn’t one to rehash his career by relying on rerecording INXS songs. He says he loves the original recordings. “It’s not just because they’re nostalgic for me,” he says. “I think we got it right the first time around. I’m the kind of person who loves to create something new. “I’m not interested in revisiting the things and messing around with them. I’ll perform them live, though.” First, he and Neeley want to ride out the pandemic in the bush. “I’m talking to you from near where I live,” he says. “I feel really lucky to live where I live right now. We used to live in the suburbs, but we live in the middle of nowhere now. We went through a terrible drought and we lost a lot of money. For three years it wouldn’t rain. But I feel blessed and really fortunate. I really do. “Folks might find this hard to believe, but I work outdoors a lot. That’s why I’m into hats. I like animals and working with people who like animals. I keep my life grounded. I have better friendships and a quality of life. I follow things in life that are real.”

Andrew Farriss andrewfarriss.com ENTERTAINERMAG.COM

A FAMILY SPIRIT

Los Esplifs brings a Tucson vibe and sound to the stage By Laura Latzko

os Esplifs, a psychedelic cumbia group, has tried to carry on the tradition of other Arizona groups who have carved their own paths. On January 29, the Tucson act will perform an outdoor concert at the Herberger Theater Center in Phoenix. Los Esplifs will be joined by opening act Salvador Duran. The band, which was formed in 2018 by Saul Millan (accordion, organ, synthesizer) and percussionist Caleb Michel, is comprised of established Arizona musicians. “It is a family of people,” Millan says. “I help them with their records, and they help me with mine. It is a family of individuals working toward Arizona music. I think that’s what I really love about Arizona, is that I can be a member of all of these groups. All of these groups are different genres and different vibes, but everything is about recording the music and getting a good product out there.” Millan has performed with the Mexican Institute of Sound, Calexico and Orkesta Mendoza, and Michel got his start with the Afro-Cuban All Stars. Hailing from Nogales, Millan has a jazz studies degree from the University

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of Arizona. In college, he specialized in the trombone, but he switched to other instruments when he became interested in composition. Raised in Phoenix, Michel grew up playing music in the church. Both Millan and Michel grew up playing music since they were around 10 and started professionally around age 14. The band is also influenced by the Tucson sound, which Millan says is centered around the “textural feeling of the desert.” “Caleb and I were really into psychedelic music,” Millan says. “We really wanted to include that texture, even from punk music from the ’70s, all of the stuff that we really like from Arizona, which is the Sun City Girls and the huge punk revolution from the ’80s in Phoenix. We also wanted to include that attitude of punk and psychedelic music in our music.” In 2020, the band was busy working on new music and doing livestream concerts, the latter of which was a performance sponsored by the Kennedy Center as part of its Arts Across America video series. That livestream concert took place inside of a recording studio. Along with livestream concerts, the group has been working on a new album called “¡ESTRAIK BACK!,” which it

plans to release this year. Millan, who is a first-generation Mexican American, and Michel, who is a first-generation Dominican American, grew up speaking English and Spanish. With their band name and their upcoming album, they thought it was important to combine the two languages. “The whole basis of Los Esplifs is we are this hybridized being, where we can exist in two spaces. Spanglish is that language that exists in both spaces,” Millan says. During their concerts, the group members sing in Spanish but often talk to audiences in English. Millan says the group is able to connect to people on different levels. “Not everybody has to understand the lyrics of the concert. They can all react in a positive way by incorporating dance, the music going inside of their body and reacting to it,” Millan says. Millan says they want to reach audiences of different ages and backgrounds while staying true to their roots. “We are trying to have an inclusive environment where our music and our culture is accepted the way it should be and the way it is,” Millan says. The group recorded most of its newest album in late February and early March in Phoenix’s Coronado Neighborhood using a recording-to-tape method. Millan says this technique was challenging because of social distancing.

“It was very difficult for us to go and produce the album during these times, because we had to be in the physical space where the tape machine was, and those tape machines are very rare and very old,” Millan says. The group first experimented with using a reel-to-reel machine with the single “La Peligrosa,” which was released last January. “All of music that we like is from the 1960s to the ’80s,” Millan says. “Those recording processes are very different than how we record music now. We’ve always been obsessed with that era of music, of New York City in the ’70s. Caleb’s dad was actually a part of that movement in the ’70s. So, he always points us to the coolest-sounding records. “Our music has been historically recorded through these machines. We wanted to be included in that canon of composition.” Millan says “¡ESTRAIK BACK!” speaks to the experience of living in 2020 as a Latino individual. “The album is a reflection of what we were going through this last year. That doesn’t have to do with the pandemic itself but more of the social revolution that was occurring during pandemic times. The whole album is trying to recreate the mind of an individual living in this space,” Millan says. The group performed new songs during the Arizona Arts Live concert and plans to do it during the Herberger

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concert as well. The group has been busy in the last few years making music. In 2020, the band has also worked on albums with pop star Neon Indian and Good Boy Inc. In 2019, the group released a self-titled EP, which was made in Mexico. Millan says one song from the EP, “De Rodillas en el Altar” (“On My Knees at the Altar”), speaks to the Arizona experience of living in the desert. “I really want kids in Arizona to listen to that and feel special,” Millan says. “Whenever I travel to anywhere in the world, when I say I’m from Arizona, people get really interested because we have a world that nobody else has. It’s really interesting and unique. That song was to say thanks to the desert and the way the desert makes me feel.” The group has also had its music played on other platforms. The song “Gaimboiz” was featured on the Netflix show “Desenfrenadas” (“Unstoppable”), and music was used in a voting registration video produced by AZ Poder. Local Arizona companies has also used the group’s music in ads. Millan says it is important that the music continues to reach Arizonans in different ways. “People in Arizona are finding our music inspiring to tell their story or just to soundtrack their ad. I think it’s amazing. To me, it shows that the music is getting represented and is getting the representation that I wanted, which is Arizona people listening to something that is truly culturally theirs. Not culturally in a sense of Latino, white or Black, but culturally Arizona music,”

Millan says. Thus far, Los Esplifs has mainly performed locally in Arizona in bigger venues to house shows, with the exception of a festival in Mexico in December 2019. The band hopes to continue to build on this, performing in other states and countries when it is safe to do so. Through digital content, the group has been able to reach audiences in Mexico, Colombia and parts of Europe. Los Esplifs plans to continue to build on this, developing more of a global following. “I’m liking that all of these people in different demographics, different places, different social classes and different ages are enjoying the music in different spaces,” Millan says. Millan says this year has really shown the importance of online platforms. The group plans to continue to use them in the near future, while also playing live for audiences. “The pandemic has informed us how we get ready in these digital spaces, in these new spaces that are getting carved into this new culture, and we are getting ready to go back to playing live, which is what our strength is,” Millan says.

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MORE INFO Los Esplifs Outdoor Concert 7:30 p.m., doors open 6:30 p.m. Friday, January 29 Herberger Theater Center, 222 E. Monroe Street, Phoenix $25 advanced tickets, $30 day of show 602.252.8497, herbergertheater.org

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IN CLOSING

FUN » FACTS » LEARN » SHARE » PLAY

NUMBERS By Annika Tomlin

An average human produces between 1 to 2 liters of saliva each day. In 1783, 1783 the first hot air balloon was launched carrying a sheep, duck and rooster. Scottish has over 400 words that refer to snow. People spend about 38 days of their life brushing their teeth. Sloths can hold their breath underwater for up to 40 minutes. A person adds 37 million bacteria to a room every hour. The insect population of the world is 1 billion times more than the human population. There are 293 ways to make change for a dollar. At 200 million copies, the IKEA catalog is the world’s most widely printed book.

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