Tucson Weekly 01/26/2023

ADMINISTRATION

Steve T. Strickbine, Publisher

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EDITORIAL

Christina Fuoco-Karasinski, Executive Editor, christina@TucsonLocalMedia.com

Hope Peters, Staff Reporter, hpeter@TucsonLocalMedia.com

Katya Mendoza, Staff Reporter, kmendoza@TucsonLocalMedia.com

Karen Schaffner, Staff Reporter, kschaffner@TucsonLocalMedia.com

Contributors: Brian Box Brown, Rob Brezsny, Max Cannon, Connor Dziawura, Andy Mosier, Linda Ray, Will Shortz, Brian Smith

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16 AGAIN

Iam writing this on my birthday. My wife Maggie and children bring me hand-painted birthday cards in bed, the squeals and screeches bouncing off walls, and my eldest leading the way, a long-haired pied piper blowing sweet random notes on a recorder. Maggie places a hot-cooked breakfast on the bedspread over my lap. Nothing in the world could be more beautiful. Nothing.

The flu (and lingering long COVID-19) has invaded my body the last several weeks, exasperating the usual sadnesses. Spent the last days in feverish recall, curled in darkness, of scenes I’d forgot-

ten growing up on Tucson’s east side.

Like this:

Seventh grade, the kid I called Five Eye because he wore the thickest damn glasses, and because he pushed the heavy frames up, a perpetual welt appeared at the top of his nose that never healed. I forgot his actual name, but Five Eye stuck.

Five Eye was one the first kids I’d ever met who didn’t have a father, none anywhere. The sharp-limbed boy with short bushy hair was probably the smartest kid in school, looked the part, so boredom wired his brain to reckless impulse. To most he was a wise-ass little punk, but he was my friend. He taught me how to ditch school, how to call in like a parent. He suffered teacher heat daily. One day he’d plug sinks and flood the girl’s bathroom, another figured how to pick locks and break into lockers. Got caught sneaking money from a teacher’s purse.

consolate mother waiting several feet away alongside the school principal. He was gone, down some juvi rabbit hole, a place far more disciplined, and sad. You don’t stay in touch with friends at that age, you are unable to articulate a sense of loss in the moment; you experience the aching but act with a reasoning you’ll likely never understand. Man, I saw Five Eye today, I’d tell him he deserved better, a chance to lift himself up and out.

On my racing bike at 6 a.m., still dark outside, 50 miles, maybe a ride up Mount Lemmon before 8th-grade homeroom, for which I’d show up late, always, floating on some high I couldn’t name. Endorphins were my first drug. Sometimes I’d train in groups of racers or with my older brother Barry and our bud Alan “Box” Fischer, the two who got me into road bike racing when I was 11. I once got hit by a car in front of the middle-school during an hour when I should’ve been inside that school. I came to in the nurse’s office, her hazy face looking down on mine. My concussion turned parental wrath into a rare show of sympathy.

By 8th grade I’d think, dream, fantasize bicycle racing. I was always the youngest kid on a racing bike, armed with a mad capacity to suffer. By 15 I was dropping 25-year-olds in races up and down mountains, winning in California, Colorado, Wyoming, Arizona, Texas and even Mexico.

school years up to 7th grade. In the desert beyond the schoolyard fence, we rifled through them, laughed and tossed them all to the desert, score by score, sheet by sheet. I remember my heart hurting secretly, my third-grade writing and math scrawls blown into the creosote and prickly pear, scraps meant for a system, but not my eyes. I would walk that way to school daily, and see pieces of those files stuck along the desert path until they were yellowed and faded and, finally, gone. A history already streaked with sadness, assuring only uncensored emotions. Turned out the academic records were hardly needed.

Five Eye didn’t last long, vanished during middle school. That day he cleaned out his locker was the only time I ever saw him ruffled, the only time he didn’t wear the shit-eating grin. The skin around his eyes crimson from crying, and his luck had run out. His dis-

You could get beat up for certain things then. Fellow students just seemed malicious, others were bullies keen to rip out hearts. Some kids discovered I shaved my legs (for cycling), or my punk rock, so school was a smorgasbord of negatives and abject friendlessness. I resigned myself to the opinions of others. Another easy laughingstock, like the kid who still pissed his pants.

One time I ran away from home, took my bike and hitchhiked up to Phoenix to stay with an older bike-racing friend. I only wanted to race. It was traumatic for any number of reasons, but mostly

Story & photos by Brian Smith

(SUBMITTED)

because I got picked up by an old guy with a paternal face driving a camper pickup. Felt safe, but creepiness soon rose: In the cab he kept a stack of porn mags, not Playboy, but queasy hardcore insertion shit I’d never seen before. He kept a toothpick balanced in his disgusting mouth. As he drove up from Tucson to Phoenix, he queried me about fucking, slowly got around to his interest in girls and boys. He dumped me off untouched with my bag and bike beyond Phoenix, beyond where I asked to be dropped, and I was terrified. Nowhere near a phone booth, and I thank the universe now I was tall and male and could get away. I rode my custom-made Gilmore pro racing bike along the I-10 freeway, balancing my one bag in an arm, screaming and weeping at the world. (You have no idea the challenge of balancing a bike on an interstate, the speeding truckers, and shock of cars, the whipping wind, flying rocks, the humiliation).

Got to a phone and my friend in Tempe, and his mother called my parents, told them where I was.

I saw my dad at a bike race the following weekend. He came to pick me up and I went home with him. He didn’t scream at me. It was difficult silence, his thick hair on his strong arms catching the sun, talk radio masking any inability to say anything. Only many years later could I even imagine the kind of quiet pain festering inside his heart.

At home my parents took a different tact, and it sounded like someone else’s advice. There was no screaming, no hitting. They said I could do what I want, quit high school even. I was shocked. As a parent now, I am still shocked. Soon they separated.

I got named to the Junior National Cycling Team, lived on and off at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. Streaked hallways of women’s dorms with a future Tour De France winner. Got called punk-rock jerk by the older Olympian dudes. It was Bad News Bears. I got booted from the training center with my older teammate pal, Alexi Grewal, the lithesome son of a crazed Punjabi immigrant. But we were too good, we had to be asked back in, to stay in line. Alexi in many ways reminded me of Five Eye, that abandon, how he

just went for it. He drove the two of us around the country, hitting races and staying in crappy motels, crashing with relatives, or in sleeping bags on roadsides while begging our team sponsor for food money. In a few years Alexi would win the Olympic gold in road racing.

Midway through tenth grade I got my drop-out slip and walked around my high school to collect my teacher’s signatures. Whatever elation I thought I’d feel was replaced with absolute fear. They each shook their heads, the same scary judge-y looks — my hair, my clothes — now frozen in pity. Except the guy who taught writing and lit, the one teacher I liked, and he said, “Good luck, man. If I had to do it all over I’d be right there with you. Keep reading, and go to libraries.” The only helpful advice I ever got in school.

I never told a soul at high school I was a national-class athlete in an obscure sport, resting heartrate 32. It wasn’t baseball or football so it didn’t count. My Russian-born national coach, we called him Eddie B., already had to write a let ter to the high school to get me out of PE. He wanted me out of high school altogether, I was destined for the Olym pics and the pros, man. Anyway, I was already skipping half my classes for 70mile training rides on Sonoran roads outside Tucson, fueled by some kind of pain-tolerating unconsciousness, and a beauty of silence. Songs of secluded, otherworldly deserts and sweet Palo Verde blooms mixed with the whirr of a machine powered on heartbeats. Absolute serenity. Even then I knew it far more holy than anything Father O’Leary and his altar boy body-and-soul clean liness had to offer. I knew about every crack in the road, east, west, south and north of Tucson. In the late 1970s you could own those roads, which took me from the wrecking ball of an unhappy, doomed household, which fueled the bike. Sometimes I’d hit the wall on my own, miles from home, no food, body completely depleted, barely making the last miles in agony, skin burned red. In pre-internet days it was hard to find music considered subversive, or any thing written about it and tender-aged radar must’ve been up for truths in mu sic and life. You had to be vigilant, earn the music you could hold in your hand. How sad Journey ruled radio at an age

when music is everything. Punk rock frightened then, from inverted Christian symbols to Gabba Gabba Hey! Five Eye would’ve loved it. It unlocked me, led to books, ideas, other music and worlds, that sort of thing.

Back at the Training Center I’d pack up my bike and my future, sell off my spare equipment for a plane ticket back to Tucson. Called a cab and quit cycling, just like that it became a past life. I wanted music. Grewal said, “Aw, you’ll be back in three months.” I remember my young body and brain taking weeks to decompress; the physical output, the thousands of calories burned daily, the endorphin rushes, the obsession, all gone, replaced with apprehension, depression, and soon other pain killers. I was no longer a rising little bike racing star. I had to negotiate the idea of being a teenage failure.

At 16 my first love was a 28-year-old woman I’d met through my big brother, and when I returned home she took me in, my records and few clothes. She drove me around. She had a genuine kindness and teacherly aptitude, a re

appointment, and I am grateful to her now. Surprised my parents didn’t call the cops on her. She worked as a door greeter at an upscale Tucson steakhouse and got me a job washing dishes. I walked into a record store one day, met a junky bass player from New York named Jeff. He mumbled he dug my spiked hair and a conversation about music ensued. That’s how bands started then. He wore biker leather in sweltering summer and a dirty road of Dee Dee Ramone seemed to lead him around. He was in his 20s, and I thought him ancient. Five Eye could have been him a decade on, unruled by the universe and wholly misplaced. A ghost. Already a remnant. Through him, I was fronting a punk band within a week or two, and the external-world bullying continued, like the schoolyard, the occasional fistto-face, even at the bus stop. But I heard a noise. I hear it still, materializing and dematerializing, but it is now altogether different. No, it is not the Buzzcocks ‘“16 Again.” It is a hum, the ever-calming voice of my wife whispering birthday wishes into my ear.

TREASURES ABOUND AT COLORS OF THE STONE

By Karen Schaffner Tucson Weekly Staff

The Tucson Gem and Mineral Show season goes beyond Downtown.

Casino Del Sol hosts Colors of the Stone, To Bead True Blue and artisan workshops and sales.

“This is a one-of-a-kind experience where you can come and shop for all types of gems, gemstones, beads and jewelry direct from the artisans and tradespeople,” said Casey Kennerson, the show manager. “We have something for everyone.”

Among the vendors is 7Hands Design, run by Lindy Lopez and Erandeny Torres-Simmons, where each piece of

clothing is original.

“It’s the way we cut but also the quality of the materials that we use,” Lopez said.

Lopez, who has been making her own clothes since before she was a teen, creates the pieces, while Torres-Simmons also drafts the patterns. They use fabric—mostly indigo fabric—that they have sourced from around the world.

“I have traders who I’ve worked with from Africa for almost 30 years now,” Lopez said. “I actually go to Mexico or Guatemala to purchase any of the fabrics we use from there and occasionally go to Asia as well. We’ve worked with

people for years.”

The fabric used in any one garment may be vintage, new or antique. Additionally, the fabric supports local artisans, so no big manufacturers. Using traditional yardage, panels and other unique fabric pieces to construct their clothing, each piece will turn out different from any other.

Calling Amateur Musicians!

VOICES OF THE STONES BOASTS A SELECTION OF FINISHED STERLING RINGS. (VOICES OF THE STONES/SUBMITTED)

It begins with resonance frequency and quartz.

“Most of the stones that we’re handling have some amount of silica dioxide, or quartz, in it,” White said.

“When we refer to quartz as a mineral, it’s what is in computer chips and quartz watches. It oscillates at a very specific frequency, and that’s what creates binary code and it’s also what keeps time. When you think of it like this, the quartz is amplifying and recording energy. It receives energy as well as giving you energy.

“What we have is one-of-a-kind pieces,” Lopez said. “Everything is made with beads and fabric, and we never repeat using the exact same thing because what we’re working with is all handmade, so it’s never exactly the same.”

Tucson Adult Chamber Players Spring Season Register by Feb 15th

Any string, wind, or piano player is welcome to join. Participants are matched based on level and receive eight (8) 90-minute coaching sessions from professional musicians. At the end, you get to show off what you’ve learned at a recital.

Learn more and register by February 15th at: https://arizonachambermusic.org/tucson-adult-chamber-players/

Adults of all levels and abilities are welcome to join!

The seams on all the clothing are finished so no hanging threads, and great care is taken to see that fabric panels, in fact all the seams, are sewn securely. Sizes range from extra small up to 3X. Lopez said she is a plus-size designer; she has a true sense of how to design to fit properly. Cost runs from $60 to $400.

Partnered with the clothing they sell is jewelry, which Lopez has designed and constructed to complement outfits. She uses a combination of pearls, metal and stones and likes to take a world view of her work.

“I like to mix things together,” she said. “The pieces that I make are often a combination of stones that may be from Africa with some handmade beads that come from Tibet.”

These pieces run from $40 to $600 and more.

Woodstock, New York-based Voices of the Stones is bringing its selection of energy-clearing selenite, among other stones. Owners Carole White and Mary Cameron have an interesting point of view when it comes to their goodies.

“That’s why people talk about clearing their stones so that as we release the heaviness that keeps us from our joy and our happiness and our heart energy, that energy doesn’t hang around on the stone; people like to clear that. There’s a lot of different techniques for clearing them but one is using another stone called selenite. I sell a lot of selenite.”

White has been selling crystals for 35 years, so she and Cameron are knowledgeable about what they offer. They can tell you “whether something’s real or it’s dyed or where the stone came from, what the energy of it is,” White said.

They have stones, rocks, finished beads, cabochons and carved figures.

“It’s all about having really good stone at a good price and about keeping a very bright, clear energetic quality to them as well,” White said. “That’s what sets most of the stones apart.”

At Voices of the Stones, you will also find old turquoise beads you won’t find anywhere else. The collection is 20 years old, so it has hard-to-find American turquoise beads and shapes, and

GEM SHOW

SEVERAL EXAMPLES OF DENDRITIC QUARTZ FROM BRAZIL. THE INCLUSIONS ARE CLEAR. (GEMS IN GEMS/SUBMITTED)

DEALER ENJOYS THE STORIES BEHIND THE STONES

By Karen Schaffner Tucson Local Media Staff

The hospitable Carmine Allocca enjoys sharing the stories behind his stones.

“Every stone is not just a stone,” Allocca said. “It’s the story behind it. I like the idea of the stone moving and connecting people. A stone comes with a whole set of stories, and I would say about my booth, it’s not just business to business only. It’s that (with) every lot I have the full information, and when someone gets a piece of that stone, they become part of the story.”

Hailing from Italy, he offers coffee or a sip of wine to accompany the stacked, divided boxes crowding his tables. Shoppers can peruse his wares at Gems in Gems, held in a small white tent behind Ramada by Wyndham Tucson. He sells inclusions, stones that as they were forming trapped matter inside them. The stone might have formed around stone fragments, gasses, water or petroleum. Whatever is inside the host stone, it makes for an interesting — if not stunning — sight.

Starting at $40 an hour

“There is going to be a pretty amazing pink fire quartz,” Allocca said. “It’s a special quartz. The mine was discovered 10 years ago, and it became really, really famous…This mine is not producing anymore, but this old owner died, and we were able to get the last stock that was left, so it’s probably going to be the best and last pink fire on the market.”

Allocca’s collection boasts Winsa sapphire from Tanzania.

“Normally, if you take this sapphire, you have a look at it, it looks like black or really dark blue so you cannot see through the crystal,” Allocca said. If it is sliced, there’s a different structure inside of it that emanates red and blue.

Gems in Gems

WHEN: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 28, to Sunday, Feb. 12

WHERE: Booth C-30, behind the Ramada by Wyndham, 777 W. Cushing Street COST: Free

GEM SHOW

SUPPORTIVE SUPPLY CHAIN KEEPS EVERYONE IN THE GOLD

By Karen Schaffner

Tucson Weekly Staff

Behind the ornate facade of the Scottish Rite Cathedral is a market where dealers offer the stuff of dreams, where guests may find sapphires, rubies, diamonds, pearls and opals, to name just a few. They’re coming from mines around the world, including the United States.

“We have everything plus a lot you’ve probably never even heard of,” said show organizer Eric Brunwart.

Only a lucky few may enter the Ethical Gem Fair, set for Saturday, Jan. 28, to Tuesday, Jan. 30, as this market is only for those in the business who can buy wholesale. This happens all over the city this time of year, however, the dealers here can provide details about the people who have touched each gemstone.

The small show houses eight to nine dealers, including Columbia Gem House,

Brunwart’s company.

Brunwart has been thinking about fair and ethical trade for at least 20 years.

“At that time, we knew where our stones were from, but we did not trace them from the mining and the brokers to the cutting to heat treatment to us,” he said.

In fact, in 2001 he was in Madagascar to discuss just this subject with representatives from the World Bank Group. While there, he had another meeting, this time with a high-ranking American government official. Brunwart was dressed for the occasion: a well-cut suit paired with designer shoes. That’s when it happened.

“I walked out of (my hotel) in my suit and my Italian shoes and stepped in an open sewer,” he said. “I looked down and was pretty annoyed that I ruined one of my Ferragamo shoes. Then I thought

ERIC BRUNWART INSPECTS WHAT COULD BECOME A

PRECIOUS GEM. (ABOVE) CAPRICORN GEMS OFFERS A MYRIAD OF GEMS, INCLUDING SAPPHIRES. CAPRICORN GEMS WILL BE AT THE ETHICAL GEM FAIR. (ETHICAL GEM SUPPLIERS/SUBMITTED)

about it. I’m here for poverty alleviation, and one of my shoes cost more than the average annual income in Madagascar at the time.”

He asked himself, “Is that reasonable? Is that equitable?”

He restructured his company to track the stones’ origins, seeking ways for all the people along the supply chain to also benefit. It’s what he calls the supportive supply chain method.

The idea of making a commitment to ethical gemstone trade was not well received within the industry. Still, Brunwart soldiered on and, along with 31 others, helped found the American Gem Trade Association, which emphasizes educational resources and ethical practices.

Curiously, about five years ago the conversation came back around to fair trade and ethical treatment of all those involved in producing the stones.

whether it’s the immediate person they deal with or somewhere two or three people down the line, and (asking themselves), ‘Are you all benefiting some from it?’ instead of squeezing the crap out of one so you make more money at the other end.

“That’s really the focus of the dealers there. It doesn’t mean the other shows are bad, but they’re also not going into detail on where they produce, how they produce, under what conditions, that sort of thing. We all spend a lot more time with that.”

Is it worth the trouble? Yes, said daughter Natasha Brunwart, who works with her dad at Columbia Gem House. She will also be at the Ethical Gem Fair.

“A lot of the younger buyers and manufacturers and their customers want to know more about their stones and how they came to market and under what conditions,” he said. “Now it’s much more, certainly not mainstream, but understood.”

It’s not that Brunwart thinks all dealers who do not call themselves ethical traders are unethical.

“I’m not fond of the word, ‘ethical,’ because there are plenty of ethical people in the jewelry industry,” he said. “They may run their supply chains differently.”

In the end, Brunwart is working with many like-minded dealers.

“At this show, people’s goals are to look at everybody along that supply chain,

“It is definitely more work but indisputably worth it,” she said. “I grew up surrounded by this industry, and at the end of the day, I believe creating a more equitable and sustainable supply chain is the only way to do business. No one’s livelihood, any landscape, or being, is worth sacrificing just for something pretty. The process we have created is something meaningful in itself and results in a beauty that does not compare.”

The Ethical Gem Fair

WHEN: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 28, to Tuesday, Jan. 30

WHERE: The Scottish Rite Cathedral, 160 S. Scott Avenue, Tucson

COST: Free; registration required; dealers only INFO: ethicalgemsuppliers.com

GEM SHOW

22ND STREET SHOW IS A TASTE OF LARGER TUCSON GEM AND MINERAL EVENT

By Karen Schaffner Tucson Weekly Staff

There’s more than one way to enjoy fossils and minerals. Replicating nature’s colors with pulverized gems, minerals and fossils, Alaskan artist Steve Cross shows off the beauty of the materials found in and on top of the earth with the paintings he creates.

“My artwork is a mix of not only gemstones but also very rare biology, everything from ocean, things like cephalopod inks–that would be octopi and squid, things like that,” he said. “I also use a lot of flowers. Anything that either bioluminates or floreses I collect for my artwork.”

See what Cross can do with a handful of precious particles at the 22nd Street Mineral, Fossil, Gem and Jewelry Show, where he has a booth. The show runs Thursday, Jan. 26, through Sunday, Feb. 12, under the white tents at 993 S. Freeway, near West 22nd Street and I-10. The 22nd Street Mineral, Fossil, Gem

and Jewelry Show is a cross-section of the city’s gem shows, with 500 vendors selling minerals to meteorites and dinosaur fossils to jewelry. Buyers and sellers come from around the globe to visit this venue and the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show in general.

“The Tucson Gem Show has always been a common meeting ground for mineral, fossil, gemstone, jewelry and meteorite dealers, buyers, and collectors from all corners of the world,” said Heather Grana, a sales manager and customer relations agent with EonsExpo, the sponsoring organization. “Anyone remotely related to the industry is well aware of its purpose and its presence.”

That’s what originally brought Cross from his Good Migrations Studio to Tucson almost 20 years ago; he wanted to use the real deal in his artwork.

“(The Tucson Gem and Mineral Show) is the greatest meeting place of every corner of our planet with the world’s rarest rocks and gems,” he said.

He even grinds down dinosaur fossils to use as pigment for his paints.

“Dinosaur bones collect a lot of irons and other minerals,” he said. “You’ll see everything from petrified woods to dinosaur bones are usually a reddish or brownish color. It usually makes a beautiful iron oxide.”

All those rare and natural ingredients add up to a painting with depth that looks different every time you look at it.

(ABOVE) WHEN ARTIST STEVE CROSS CREATES A PAINTING OF AN ANIMAL, HE STRIVES TO HAVE ITS DNA IN THE PAINT, IF POSSIBLE.

(GOOD MIGRATIONS STUDIO/SUBMITTED)

(LEFT) CORY COTTER PROCESSES COPPER ORE IN HIS OWN SHOP AND THEN HAND FORGES THE MOUNTS, WHICH HE TAILORS TO EACH SPECIMEN.

(MICHIGAN ROCKS AND MINERALS/SUBMITTED)

“Every day you look at (my painting) it actually shifts colors based on the lighting in the room,” Cross said. “They bioluminate at night. They glow by themselves when the sun goes down because of certain materials in them.”

Cross hopes viewers understand he uses natural ingredients. For example, when he creates a piece featuring a Gambel’s quail, he incorporates natural materials found in the desert where it lives, such as saguaro cactus ribs or nearby minerals. Although he paints the wildlife we might see, Cross favors the rare, the compelling, the exotic.

“My work has to tell a story,” he said. “If I’m creating a wooly mammoth as a piece of artwork, it is guaranteed to have the DNA of a wooly mammoth inside of it. I’ll use the fur that they’ve found in the ice, the actual DNA, the bone or the ivory or the tusk of the wooly mammoth. Everything I do is indigenous to that piece that I’m making.”

Prices for Cross’ work begin at about $30 for a small piece and go up into the thousands.

Michigan rocks and minerals

As with Cross, Cory Cotter has art pieces that begin at about $25 and go up to the price of a fairly nice house.

He’s not a painter, however. Cotter is a geologist who specializes in mining copper ore from Michigan. His specimens are not penny-size ore, although

he does have small pieces for anyone who might like a doorway into collecting. What Cotter has is art. He has pieces that can weigh in the hundreds of carats, making them fairly large pieces. They’re beautiful, too, and Cotter knows how to bring out their best.

“It’s from the ground to the gallery,” he said. “I’m not only finding the pieces, I’m power washing them. Then I’m polishing them. I’m making custom stands. The value added is not just the mineral but all the work that I put into it.”

Cotter was a geology professor but found there wasn’t a lot of money in that, so he went out on his own. On any given snowless day when the ground is clear, Cotter sweeps the ground with his metal detector. If he’s lucky he will come up with a solid hunk of copper that was ripped out of the ground by a passing glacier during the ice age.

“We use metal detectors to find them in what we call the glacial till,” Cotter said. “They’re different than the Arizona copper where it’s in the ore. These are large chunks, sometimes 1,000 pounds or more.”

How does he get them out? It isn’t easy.

“We do it all by hand,” he said. “The terrain is such that you can’t, for the most part, get excavators or things back in the woods. It’s inaccessible. We take

higher-quality Chinese turquoise “that just is not available anymore,” White said.

“My partner, Mary, she’s been curating that; we know the cutters that the material came from originally, so it’s backed up with good knowledge about what the material is.”

Even if you don’t make jewelry, stop by to take a peek at the elements that make up the jewelry we wear.

“Our booth is for people who are making jewelry or making cabochons into jewelry, and there’s a lot that’s not finished jewelry,” White said. “We have a nice collection of finished rings and sterling chains and some finished pendants.”

Check out Voices’ website, voicesofthestones.com, to see a more complete list of the stones and crystals that they sell.

ARTISAN WORKSHOPS

Besides the market — both wholesale and retail — the Colors of the Stone will teach guests to make jewelry. Look for a

class in how to use silver clay — a clay that reveals the silver inside when you burn off the dross. Learn how to make rings, pendants or artisan brushes. There are also classes in wire weaving, making stud earrings or beading. Colors of the Stone will also boast gems and rare pieces for connoisseurs and galleries, gemstones and jewelry tools and supplies for designers, ready and handmade jewelry, crystals and accessories. There will also be plenty of beads, such as lampwork, antique and raku beads. Also available will be tribal textiles.

Colors of the Stone, along with To Bead True Blue and artisan workshops

WHEN: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 28, to Saturday, Feb. 4

WHERE: Casino Del Sol, 5655 W. Valencia Road, Tucson

COST: Free; parking and shuttle services from Downtown and the Gem Mall/Holidome are free, too INFO: colorsofthestone.com

22ND STREET FROM PAGE 9

four-wheelers back there but most of it is just walking after you get to a certain point.”

He has pieces of copper that cost close to $1 million. For this show, Cotter expects to bring between 3,000 and 5,000 pounds of mostly Michigan copper.

That translates to 250 to 350 pieces in various shapes and forms, he said. Some are crystalized. Some weigh between 1 and 3 pounds; others 300 to 500 pounds. The most expensive piece comes in at more than $100,000.

Those who buy high-end pieces receive a custom-forged and -welded stand, something he created in his shop, and art in its own right.

Look for Cotter’s booth in the middle of the showroom, he said.

The thing to remember about his wares, he said, is that none of it is bought by the pallet wholesale. Nothing wrong with that, he said, but his is mostly a one-man operation, though he does have a small staff to help find the ore.

“I’m the largest retailer of Michigan rocks and minerals,” Cotter said. “There are some other wholesalers who will sell

to a local gift shop (for example) pieces by the flat.”

That is not what Cotter wants to do.

“I specialize in the unique, high-end, home decor, the art, the esthetic pieces,” he added.

Although the weight is mighty, Cotter said shoppers would not buy his pieces to melt down as copper.

“It’s worth much more as a specimen,” he said. “Some of these pieces I’m bringing, I’ve had them tested. (One) has over a dozen different minerals in the specimen so it’s copper, nickel, silver, titanium. It’s a real rare, unique combination of native elements.”

The 22nd Street Mineral, Fossil, Gem and Jewelry Show

WHEN: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 26, to Sunday, Feb. 12

WHERE: White tents, 993 S. Freeway, Tucson

COST: Admission is free; parking is $10

INFO: 22ndstreet.show/ show-details

OPENING RECEPTION: ‘DEGRAZIA UNDERGROUND: MINERS AND PROSPECTORS

OF THE OLD WEST’

Born in 1936 to Italian immigrants who lived and worked in the mining town of Morenci, legendary Tucson artist Ted DeGrazia painted with great sensitivity to the culture of diversity in which he was raised. Sonoran life was most often the centerpiece of his work, but this selection of drawings and oil paintings gives us unique insight into his impressions and memories of the mining world

5 to 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 27, DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun, 6300 N. Swan Road, free, degrazia.org

TRUE CONCORD VOICES AND ORCHESTRA: ‘HERE I AM’

As part of the Tucson Desert Song Festival, this concert includes the Tucson Girls Chorus in a multimedia event featuring illuminated portraits and words of 47 women from across the world and across time. The theme of the program is the importance of using our voice. Renowned opera soprano Susanna Phillips sings the Mozart motet “Exsultate, jubilate” and the world premiere of “Here I Am” by Jocelyn Hagen. 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 27, Valley Presbyterian Church, 2800 S. Camino Del Sol, Green Valley; 7:30 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 28, and 3 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 29, Catalina Foothills High School, 4300 E. Sunrise Drive, tickets start at $27, trueconcord.org/performances

ARIZONA OPERA PRESENTS ‘TOSCA’

The story told in Puccini’s “Tosca” could be ripped from the hysterical pages of a contemporary entertainment news outlet like TMZ. A sadistic police chief tangles with a tempestuous opera singer and her lover in a story of passion, jealousy, murder, betrayal and self-sacrifice. It’s an opera’s opera, dramatic, and all the action takes place in 24 hours. The performance will be in Italian with English supertitles. 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 28, The Linda Ronstadt Music Hall, 260 S. Church Avenue, tickets start at $35, tickets. azopera.org/tuc-tosca

‘COLORS OF THE STONE’

Billed as “Tucson’s Largest Artisan Show,” “Colors of the Stone” brings together a diverse group of artisans, gem

by Linda Ray

AFRICAN ART VILLAGE AT THE TUCSON GEM SHOW

Wonderfully diverting in the sea of wonderful minerals that engulfs our town this month are the African fabric motifs, African jewelry and leather goods, beaded figurines and bags, tribal art, traditional masks and, especially, the hand-carved puppets, whose expressions range from cheery to terrifying, in the African Art Village. For sheer visual and cultural impact, the African crafts and artifacts can outshine the most sparkling gems.

7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 28, through Sunday, Feb. 12, MSA Annex 279 S. Linda Avenue, Tucson African Art Village on Facebook, free

‘MUSIC FOR THE SOUL’ DANCE PARTY WITH THE GEORGE HOWARD BAND

Let’s get dressed up for date night and go dancing. George Howard brings the Motown sound, the soul, the easy jazz and the R&B that never go out of style. The Gaslight Music Hall moves the tables out from up front to make a dance floor. Bring some friends and family, and party like it’s 1965.

7 to 9:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 27, Gaslight Music Hall, 13005 N. Oracle Road, Suite 165, $20, gaslightmusichall.com 7 to 9:30 p.m.

SAND-RECKONER WINE TASTING & CHARCUTERIE BOARD MAKING

Soon-to-be released Sand-Reckoner wines are featured in a class where you can learn how to make spectacular and tasty charcuterie boards. Flying Aprons Tucson specializes in cooking classes for home cooks. But when you can dress your charcuterie boards for success, you might even be able to avoid cooking altogether. Or you have a reason to make sure you always draw the cocktail hour in your crowd’s moveable feasts. Organizers say that the white wine served will be fresh, full and crisp with notes of lychee, elderflower and key lime. It’s made from grapes grown in the Italian Piedmont section of Malvasia, Italy. There will also be a rosé and three reds.

6 to 8 p.m. Monday, Jan. 30, Sand-Reckoner Vineyards Tasting Room, 510 N. Seventh Avenue, Suite 170, $75, flyingapronstucson.com, advance registration required via shopify.com

enameling, and mixed media. See the website for workshops offered. 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 28, to Saturday, Feb. 4, Casino Del Sol, 5655 W. Valencia Road, free, colorsofthestone.com

WESTERN REGION LITTLE LEAGUE UMPIRE OUTREACH CLINIC

Hosted by the Arizona District 12 Little League, this three-day event is designed to encourage and prepare grownups to support Tucson’s Little League teams by becoming umpires. The clinic offers two days on the field and one in the classroom. Registration doesn’t include housing.

5 p.m. Friday, Jan. 27, to 4 p.m. Sunday, Jan 29, Field of Dreams, 2420 S. Kino Parkway, $70, eventbrite.com

ODYSSEY STORYTELLING

January’s topic is “Obsession,” but it’s already time to get busy writing your story for February. The topic is “Arms and Legs.” Odyssey Storytelling events have been giving voice to Tucson’s stories for close to twenty years. Anyone is welcome to submit a story based on a monthly prompt. Each show has at least one rehearsal so presenters can get comfortable on the stage and get tips for getting the most out of their storytelling.

7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 2, and the first Thursday of every month, The Screening Room, 127 E. Congress Street, $15, odysseystorytelling.com

NATIVE NATIONS DAY AT PRESIDIO PARK

Eleni Cachora, newly crowned Miss Tohono O’odham Nation, will be the honored guest at the Presidio museum’s popular Native Nations Demonstrations and Craft Market event. She’ll help dedicate the museum’s new Early People’s Park, which includes a recreated pit house dwelling and a garden dedicated to preserving and demonstrating the traditional agriculture methods of native ancestors in the Tucson Valley. Local artisans will demonstrate and sell beadwork, clay pots, shell jewelry and baskets. Sweet and savory fry bread and popovers also will be available.

cutters, beadmakers, wholesalers, lapidaries and tradespeople under one roof.

It’s like the Downtown gem show, but with gambling and parking shuttles.

Here’s a very short list of the many good things on display: metalwork, bead making, jewelry design, hand knotting, metal clay, wirework, crystal setting,

10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 28, Presidio San Agustin del Tucson, 196 N. Court Avenue, $7, $2 kids, more for nonresidents of Pima County

LAUGHING STOCK

RON PLACONE: THE BIGGER, BETTER REBOOT

By Linda Ray Tucson Weekly Columnist

Ron Placone has been seen on CrossTalk, The Discovery Channel, The Jimmy Dore Show, RT International, TMZ, FreeSpeechTV and Redacted Tonight. His debut album, “Agnostic Holiday,” is in rotation on SiriusXM. He writes the comic, “Lucy & Ron,” and he hosts the podcast, “Get Your News on With Ron.”

He last visited Tucson on the brink of what he hoped would launch a national, live standup career. “The last time I came through Tucson,” he said, “I was going to tour very extensively and had an entire year of shows booked.”

With what he’d dubbed “The Progressive Comedy Tour Show,” emphasis on the “progressive,” he played The O on Feb. 8, 2020.

He told us at the time, “I’d been talking about politics since I started comedy, because what interested me was people like George Carlin and Bill Hicks.”

“I was one of the last shows that happened before the shutdown,” he said. “Now you’re going to hear more about the world around me and why I feel the way I do.” Placone will perform an hourlong set and premiere a short video at Screening Room Saturday, Jan. 28.

“The difference with this show is, I always talk about myself, but a lot has happened in my life since then,” Placone said. “I got married, we had a global pandemic that shut down the world for a little while. We had a couple elections, we had a World Cup, we had a couple holiday seasons. There’s certainly not a lack of things to talk about.”

At the Screening Room, Placone will introduce his standup fans to another dimension of his creativity: writing, directing and producing film projects. He’ll premiere a 12-minute promo for what he hopes might develop into a series. The work is called “Loner.”

“It’s a comedy about a guy who is

working through the lockdown,” Placone said. Its centerpiece is his character’s complete isolation. The show has a full cast, and the story line revolves around their relationships, but Placone is the only one we see onscreen. He said of his character, “He’s going through this personal reckoning of finding himself and coming of age, but he’s doing it in incomplete solitude.”

What inspired the show, and informs his character, Placone said, was an epiphany: “Life is too short. Do it now.”

“I think the past couple years, one of the things that happened to all of us is we realized how short and precious life is,” Placone said.

“What are some things that I really value in my life? I want to do more international stuff. I want to do more film-related stuff. And I really want to connect more with my family and my roots in Italy.”

Placone grew up in an Italian American family. He’s cultivated relationships with far-flung family members via the internet. Now, he noted, there are so many (web-based tools) for people to connect with,

“We really do live in a digital village. So, I just decided that I really wanted to have a better connection with my Italian family.” He sees filmmaking as one path to work in Italy that will allow time with them.

“I’ve been over there about four times but recently I went over because a cousin of mine got married near Naples. I talk a lot about that in my act.”

Placone acknowledged what we all know — the COVID-19 pandemic was irretrievably devastating. “But I think one thing it did do for people, or certainly for me, was it sort of made us refocus on what’s really important in life.

“I used to say, ‘Someday I’m going to do more filmmaking.’ And now I’m like,

‘You know what? I can do that now.’”

NEW MICS THIS WEEK

Starting this week, Tucson comics and comedy fans have two new, free open mics to support on Wednesdays. Both promise a safe-space mic with no hate speech.

Corbin Barker opens his “For the Love of Comedy” mic for 7:30 p.m. signups and an 8 p.m. show on Wednesday, Feb. 1, at The Rock, 136 N. Park Avenue. Karaoke follows the mic.

HAPPY 9TH ANNIVERSARY TO UNSCREWED THEATRE

Unscrewed Theatre’s birthday parties are always a treat. At 7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 27, a ninth anniversary special features all of the Unscrewed house teams with special guest cartoonist, columnist and comedian David Fitzsimmons and KGUN9 correspondent Tina Giuliano. The show will have a “Whose Line Is It Anyway” flavor with a little musical improv thrown in.

RON PLACONE BRINGS THE JOKES AND A FILM PREMIERE. (RON PLACONE/SUBMITTED)

$20 preferred seating, Alvin Williams, there are things he doesn’t hate, but you might not hear about them. At least he’s likeable.

At 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 28, KDRI 107.1 FM midday host Ken Carr teams up with Unscrewed’s founding ensemble, NBOJU (Not Burnt Out Just Unscrewed). Carr also performs in the 9 p.m. Uncensored Improv show with NBOJU and The Big Daddies,

MORE COMEDY THIS WEEK

Chuckleheads, 41 Brewery Avenue, Bisbee, chuckleheadsaz.com, 8:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 27, $20. Multi-award-winner, Comedy Store regular and award-winning comedy documentary director Josh Edelman, featuring Austen Silver.

Hotel Congress, 311 E Congress Street, hotelcongress.com, 6 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 28, $17.51, The most flamboyant fun in town, “Retro Game Show,” now in its 11th year, presents “Wheel of Misfortune.” You could be a winner! Laff’s Comedy Caffe, 2900 E. Broadway Boulevard, laffstucson.com, 8 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 27, and 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 28, $15,

The Screening Room, 127 E. Congress Street, screeningroomdowntown. com, 8 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 26, $10, The Downtown Comedy Show with Whittles, Rebecca Fox, Austen Silver and Josh Edelman, Chris Quinn hosts; 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 28, $15. standup Ron Placone debuts of his short film “Loner.” Tucson Improv Movement/TIM Comedy Theatre, 414 E. Ninth Street, tucsonimprov.com, $7 each show, $10 for both shows, same night, free jam and open mic. Thursday, Jan. 26, 7:30 p.m. The Dirty Tees;” 8:30 p.m. Open Mic Friday, Jan. 27, 6:30 p.m. Improv Jam; 7:30 p.m., “The Soapbox;” 9 p.m. Stand Up Showcase. 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 28, “The Game Show Show,” 9 p.m. “Improv Throwdown”

Unscrewed Theater, 4500 E. Speedway Boulevard, unscrewedtheatre.org, $8, live or remote, $5 kids. 7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 27, NBOJU Anniversary show with special guests; 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 28, NBOJU with special guest; 9 p.m. Uncensored Improv with NBOJU, The Big Daddies and special guest; Monday, Jan. 30, 6:30 p.m. Improv Drop-ins, in person and online, free.

LIVE MUSIC CALENDAR

By Connor Dziawura Tucson Weekly

STRFKR

JANUARY 26

Bush, Marshall, Meyer, Meyer

Rialto Theatre, 8 p.m., $24-$50

Hank Topless LaCo Tucson, 6:30 p.m., free

JANUARY 27

Greg Morton and Jim Stanley

LaCo Tucson, 5:30 p.m., free

Will She /Okkervil River

191 Toole, 8 p.m., $20

JANUARY 28

Bex and Halsero

Hotel Congress Plaza, 10 p.m., free

Michael Cavanaugh:

Music of Billy Joel & Elton John

Fox Tucson Theatre, 7:30 p.m., $40-$72.50

Noah Martin Band

191 Toole, 8 p.m., $10

Tucson Jazz Trio

LaCo Tucson, 6 p.m., free

JANUARY 29

The Altons

191 Toole, 8 p.m., $20

Mik and the Funky Brunch

LaCo Tucson, 11 a.m., free

FEBRUARY 1

Oscar Fuentes

LaCo Tucson, 5:30 p.m., free

Shania Twin

DesertView Performing Arts Center, 7:30 p.m., $30

FEBRUARY 2

Duane Reilly

The Century Room, 7 p.m., $0-$10

San Jose Taiko

Fox Tucson Theatre, 7:30 p.m.,

$25-$42.50

Gem & Jam Festival w/The Floozies, Emancipator, The Motet, Ott. and The Funk Hunters

Pima County Fairgrounds, 11:30 a.m. to 4 a.m., $75-$2,100

Greg Morton and Jim Stanley

LaCo Tucson, 5:30 p.m., free

Le Trebuchet

Club Congress, 8 p.m., $10

Puzzle

Rialto Theatre, 8 p.m., $22

FEBRUARY 4

Adventures in Parrotdise: A Jimmy Bu ett Tribute Show

DesertView Performing Arts Center, 7:30 p.m., $30

Hotel Congress Plaza, 7:30 p.m., $23-$25

Sunn O))) Shoshin ( ) Duo

Rialto Theatre, 9 p.m., $30

We Banjo 3

191 Toole, 8 p.m., $28

FEBRUARY 3

Brooklyn Rider and Magos Hererra

Centennial Hall, 8 p.m., $39-$64

Buckwheat Zydeco Jr. and the Ils Sont

Partis Band

Hotel Congress Plaza, 7 p.m., $28.33

Gem & Jam Festival w/LSDREAM, Justin Martin, SoDown, Haywyre and Snakes & Stars

Pima County Fairgrounds, 10:45 a.m. to 4 a.m., $75-$2,100

Mac Sabbath

191 Toole, 8 p.m., $22

the moss

Club Congress, 7:30 p.m., $13-$15

Nathaniel Burnside

LaCo Tucson, 6 p.m., free

MUSIC

IRELAND’S WE BANJO 3 PREPARES FOR HIATUS

By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski Tucson Weekly Staff

Arizona hasn’t been kind to the Galway, Ireland-based act We Banjo 3. Four of their shows were postponed in February 2022 and each time it’s been to the Grand Canyon State, it’s rained.

Vocalist David Howley is hoping for a better result — and some warm weather — when We Banjo 3 returns to the state: Wednesday, Feb. 1, at the Orpheum Theater in Flagstaff; Thursday, Feb. 2, at 191 Toole in Tucson; Friday, Feb. 3, at the Del E. Webb Center for the Performing Arts in Wickenburg and Saturday, Feb. 4, at the Chandler Center for the Arts.

“These are very special shows for us,” he said.

“We have a lot of new music that’s creeping in from (the new record) ‘Open

the Road.’ It’s more of an explanation and understanding as well of where the band is at. We’re probably going to ask the crowd to dance at some point. We love when people move. Movement in music is so important, particularly as we’ve had a break from it for a couple of years. We’re excited to be back.”

We Banjo 3 won’t be back for long, however. The two sets of brothers — Enda (banjo, mandolin and tenor guitar) and Fergal Scahill (fiddle, guitar and Bodhran) and David (banjo, vocals, guitar) and Martin Howley (banjo, mandolin, tenor guitar) — are planning an extended break from their rolling banjos, soaring fiddle and mandolin runs that swirl around propulsive vocals and perfect harmonies.

“We all have a lot of projects that we’ve been working on,” he said.

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“Since coming back after the pandemic, we have been on the road pretty much constantly. So, we’re going to do something mad and crazy that musicians never do — we’re going to take some time off.”

pening,” he said.

We Banjo 3 grew out of jam sessions among the four men. After Enda returned to Galway from a tour playing bluegrass and old-time festivals, he called David and Martin and asked them to come over to his house to play music.

In 2009, they started playing gigs, dubbing themselves We Banjo 3, as they all played the instrument. David added vocals and guitar, and Fergal joined later on fiddle.

After a performance at International Arts Festival, the biggest art festival in Europe, We Banjo 3 was awarded a grant from the Arts Council of Ireland, which the musicians used to record their first album and continued to tour Ireland.

Touring the world, they’ve showed off their musicianship and recently they released “Open the Road,” a 10-track collection. Upbeat and powerful, We Banjo 3’s music is what the world needs, he said.

yourself have fun.”

He admitted it was hard to loosen up like that.

“I think that the natural thing to do, as a musician, is to say, ‘Well, everything has to be perfect — particularly with the pressure of having other albums gone before that have done pretty well,” David said.

“There’s always a pressure on a new album because the new album has to do better than the old album. But I think with this, we just said, ‘Let’s just make the album we want to make and enjoy it. Whatever it does, it does.’ The response has been beautiful though.”

We Banjo 3

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 1

WHERE: Orpheum Theater, 15 W. Aspen Avenue, Flagstaff COST: Tickets start at $30 INFO: orpheumflagstaff.com

WHEN: 8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 2 WHERE: 191 Toole, 191 E. Toole Avenue, Tucson

COST: Tickets start at $28 INFO: 191toole.com

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David has solo tours coming up. Martin plays mandolin in the Broadway show “Come from Away,” while Fergal’s talents went viral during the pandemic when he played a tune every day on social media.

Enda has a “fantastic Patreon” where he has created a hub for learning Irish tenor banjo.

“We all have stuff hap-

“Music is a very inclusive, communicative thing,” he said. “It brings people together. I think that that’s the beautiful thing about coming out to a show. You could come to our gig knowing ever lyric of every song, and you could also come to our gig without ever hearing a single song. We build the gig around the idea that both of those people are included.”

Reiterating that “Open the Road” is a statement record, David said the pandemic proved there was a lot more music within them that they weren’t exploring.

“The statement of that album is there are no rules,” he said. “There’s not even a destination really in the album. It’s very much just one large exploration of what comes out of your mind if you just let

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 3

WHERE: Del E. Webb Center for the Performing Arts, 1090 S. Vulture Mine Road Wickenburg

COST: Tickets start at $32 INFO: dewpac.org

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 4 WHERE: Chandler Center for the Arts, 250 N. Arizona Avenue, Chandler

COST: Tickets start at $26 INFO: chandlercenter.org

WE BANJO 3 PLAYS FOUR ARIZONA SHOWS IN EARLY FEBRUARY. (ACACIA EVANS/CONTRIBUTOR)

SOUTHERN ARIZONA FLAVORS

INVITE SAMPLING AT FESTIVAL

By Karen Schaffner Tucson Local Media Staff

At El Corral steakhouse on River Road, the food speaks for itself.

“It’s basically humble and simple; there’s no need to complicate things,” said Casey Wills, president of Argo Land and Cattle, which owns El Corral. “If we choose good ingredients, let’s just not stand in the way.”

Prime rib is the star of this historic restaurant’s show.

“It’s cooked low and slow,” Wills added. “The seasoning that we put on it is minimal: salt, pepper, garlic, onion powder, that kind of thing. The goal of it is to let the beef be the star.”

He, along with kitchen lead Ray Figueroa, will be handing out samples of their tender prime rib at SAVOR, Southern Arizona Food and Wine Festival, Saturday, Jan. 28, at Tucson Botanical Gardens.

Tickets for the Southern Arizona Arts and Cultural Alliance event are $100, which allow samples of more than 70 restaurants’ offerings. The area’s best mixologists and bartenders will serve sips from local breweries, wineries and distilleries.

Wills said guests can sample El Corral’s greatest hits at SAVOR, including prime rib, tamale pie and a small side salad with the house honey-Italian dressing. It’s a shortened version of a visit to the restaurant.

Because SAVOR is a bit of a party, El Corral invites guests to quench their thirst with a prickly pear margarita.

“We’re trying to give people a little taste of what El Corral does, what it’s about and what it’s been doing since, basically, the late ’30s,” he said.

Borderland Spirits will serve a taste of the Wild West—bacanora, to be specific. It’s made from the agave plant.

“It’s a type of mescal,” said Michael Hurley, owner of the company. “It has

its own designation of origin so it’s a mescal with its own history and its own culture. Part of that culture comes from Tucson.”

Hurley represents two separate family producers, the Mazot and Batuq families. Their products will be available to be sampled.

Hurley said what he is interested in is the ethical import of these spirits, with no additives. What you see is what you get.

“Let’s compare it with tequila,” Hurley said. “Tequila is more of an industrial production and there’s a lot of manipulation of tequila. There are lots of ingredients added. This is all small-scale, traditional, family (produced).”

Bacanora comes with an interesting history in Tucson, which can be traced back to at least the very early 1900s.

“It was probably second to whiskey, the primary drink in the bars so there was more bacanora per capita back at the turn of the last century than there is now,” Hurley said.

Due to greed, Hurley said he believes, importing it into the United States was outlawed from 1915 to 1992. That didn’t stop people here from having it, though.

“People had it—especially in the Latino community,” Hurley said. “It’s been

PRIME RIB IS ONE OF EL CORRAL’S MOSTREQUESTED CUTS OF MEAT. GET A SAMPLE OF IT AT SAVOR, SOUTHERN ARIZONA FOOD AND WINE FESTIVAL. (ARGO LAND AND CATTLE/ SUBMITTED)

in every household and a lot of the hipster communities have their Coke bottles of bacanora. It’s still used in the Latino community for quinceaneras and funerals and weddings and things like that. That’s often how the young people get introduced to it. It’s embedded in everyday life.” Now, thanks to SAVOR, the public can be introduced to it, too.

SAACA executive director Kate Marquez said this is an opportunity to see why Tucson was named a UNESCO City of Gastronomy. It shows the diversity of restaurants and libations found here.

“It’s all sampling wineries, breweries, restaurants, food makers like pastry chefs and small businesses that make olive oil and tea, you name it,” she said.

SAVOR was last held in 2020, so participants are eager to show off their skills and products, especially as they’ve been teaching themselves to use heritage foods and foods products that are locally sourced.

“When (guests) support an event like this, they’re also supporting the culinary infrastructure here in Southern Arizona, which has just made so many strides toward international recognition,” Marquez said.

SAVOR, Southern Arizona Food and Wine Festival

WHEN: Noon to 3 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 28

WHERE: Tucson Botanical Gardens, 2150 N. Alvernon Way

COST: $100; proceeds benefit SAACA, Local Arizona Tucson and Tucson Botanical Gardens INFO: saaca.org

ishing the cash that’s available to companies and consumers, Jackim said.

“There are also relatively low unemployment numbers and as a result there aren’t enough people to fill slots,” Jackim said, “so a cannabis company has to pay more or provide more benefits to attract good employees.”

CHAMBER PREDICTS TOO MUCH WEED, NOT ENOUGH RETAILERS

By Hope Peters Tucson Weekly Sta

Janet Jackim, executive co-chair of the Arizona Cannabis Chamber of Commerce, cast a pall over the industry.

“2023 is going to show us the weaklings and the strongmen or strongwomen,” said Jackim, executive vice chair and partner at Zuber Lawler law firm.

“We are going to see a substantial number of activities that are going to be very difficult to deal with.”

Jackim spoke as part of the Zoom “2023 Industry Overview and Forecast”

on Jan. 11. It was led by the chamber’s executive co-chair Kim Prince, founder of Proven Media.

Jackim said there are so many products and cultivators that the retailers can’t stay ahead of the game.

“Arizona is getting closer to what’s happening in California and Colorado, as opposed to the new emerging markets on the East Coast,” Jackim said.

The influx of cannabis means the products’ sale price drops drastically. Also, Arizona has very high taxation and inflation, which equates to dimin-

Unfortunately, she said, Arizona still has a strong legacy market, “the illegal market.” Lax enforcement activities lead to this problem, she added.

In addition, the retailers are asking for more money from the wholesaler to add their products on the retail shelves, negatively affecting the wholesalers.

The cost of borrowing to keep a cannabis business afloat has increased just as the mortgage rates on residential homes have soared.

Most of the multistate operators “listed on stock exchanges have seen their stock prices dimension repeatedly into a very low price per interest or stock value,” Jackim said.

In addition, the complex regulations, applications and fees, “tend to discourage more entrances into the marketplace across the country,” she said. “So, how low do we go?”

“This year, we have a kind of hybrid blend of in-person and Zoom meeting,” Prince added of its January overview and forecast meeting. “We thought the

best way to kick off the year was to just talk about trends and predictions that we are seeing, to give us an edge in our businesses after we navigate the world of cannabis in 2022.”

The chamber represents several companies in industries like such as estate, title and zoning, insurance, many law firms, public relations/media and cannabis businesses to ensure the cannabis industry is thriving and here to stay.

“I think what Janet said is a harsh reality sometimes to hear,” Prince said. “But to deal in realities, we are all businesspeople here; the chamber of commerce exists to provide networking, informa-

KIM PRINCE

tion, support, so that we can all thrive.”

Prince acknowledged the Arizona Dispensary Association attendance in the Zoom meeting.

“We are so excited to have them on board,” Prince said. “The Arizona Dispensary Association has just as much invested interest, as we do, in making sure we have a really healthy cannabis economy.”

Chamber member Bryan McLaren of Zoned Properties works throughout the country, sharing his expertise, Prince stated.

“Maybe to put a spin on this for the positive, everything has challenges and opportunities; that’s the beauty of life,” said McLaren, chairman and chief executive officer for Zoned Properties.

“You have to deal with realities, these are super challenging tasks we all have in front of us,” he said. “Whether you’re a direct plant touching operator, whether you’re an ancillary service provider, ultimately all of our abilities to work with each other on these complex challenges is the formula to create success.”

“This is an ebb and flow, like any in-

dustry,” McLaren said. “We at Zoned Properties have been doing this for 10 years, so we have seen a lot of different parts of this industry. Beginning in the exciting stages when the first few states came online, when Canada legalized and that translated to excitement across the continent.”

McLaren explained there are new

states coming online and new communities enacting opt-in.

“Opt-in versus opt-out: whether your city, town, county will allow cannabis permits within,” McLaren said.

McLaren said the exciting part of this industry is that the cannabis industry has made it far despite these challenges.

you need the real estate,” he said.

“The beauty of real estate is that no matter where the macro-level industry is, the real estate is always hyperlocal. You just really need to be focused on that project and the challenges in front of you."

The 2023 trends Prince sees in the cannabis industry are directly related to the shaky economy.

“Right now, because of the economy, value has become very important,” she said in a previous statement. “It’s value versus brand. It can be challenging for the dispensaries, because people are bargain shopping. People are waiting for the BOGO sales…buy one, get one and they’re stocking up on those.”

The outlook for 2023 is challenging, she explained. “This is why we (AZC3) feel very strongly about supporting the economy, the businesses,” Prince said. “Because consumers are so value driven.”

“That’s where creative solutions allow opportunities and value to be born,” McLaren said. “My hope in this industry as a whole, and all of us as professionals or just interested parties who are observing the industry is to discover together where we can create value and advance the discussion.”

Prince agreed that real estate is almost “the most important thing you can secure when you get into the dispensary business,” she said. “This is why zoning is so very important. And working with someone again can create a good community with zoning.”

McLaren reiterated, “All of our interactions with this space will come down to the physical built-in environment…at the end of the day, to get this business operational or to apply for the license

“All of the ancillary businesses that support any industry are also included in cannabis,” Prince said. “That’s where it gets challenging…like the tax revenue is directly attributed towards the retail sales of marijuana, the medical sales; but all the other robust economies that surround it, from insurance to PR to real estate to packaging…there’s a whole other side of cannabis, and it is pretty healthy in Arizona, despite a challenging time in the industry.”

Arizona Cannabis Chamber of Commerce Meeting

WHEN: 5:30 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 21

WHERE: Curaleaf North Scottsdale, 16277 N. Greenway Hayden Loop, Scottsdale

COST: Free INFO: azc3.org

PARISA RAD JAYSON MEYEROVITZ

TUCSON AREA DISPENSARIES

BLOOM TUCSON

4695 N. Oracle Road, Suite 117

520-293-3315; bloomdispensary.com

Open: 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily

BOTANICA

6205 N. Travel Center Drive

520-395-0230; botanica.us

Open: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily

DESERT BLOOM RE-LEAF CENTER

8060 E. 22nd Street, Suite 108

520-886-1760; dbloomtucson.com

Open: 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily Offering delivery

DOWNTOWN DISPENSARY

221 E. Sixth Street, Suite 105

520-838-0492; thedowntowndispensary.com

Open: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., Monday through Saturday; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday

D2 DISPENSARY

7139 E. 22nd Street

520-214-3232; d2dispensary.com

Open: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., Monday through Saturday; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday

EARTH’S HEALING

Two locations:

North: 78 W. River Road

520-253-7198

South: 2075 E. Benson Highway

520-373-5779

earthshealing.org

Open: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday; 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sundays; Offering delivery

GREEN MED WELLNESS CENTER

6464 E. Tanque Verde Road

520-886-2484, greenmedwellness.com

Open: 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday; 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday; 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday

THE GREEN HALO

7710 S. Wilmot Road

520-664-2251; thegreenhalo.org

Open: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily

HANA GREEN VALLEY

1732 W. Duval Commerce Point Place

520-289-8030

Open: 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday; 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday

HARVEST OF TUCSON

2734 E. Grant Road

520-314-9420; askme@harvestinc.com; harvestofaz.com

Open: 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily

NATURE MED

5390 W. Ina Road

520-620-9123; naturemedaz.com

Open: 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily

THE PRIME LEAF

Two locations:

• 4220 E. Speedway Boulevard

• 1525 N. Park Avenue

520-44-PRIME; theprimeleaf.com

Open: 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sundays

TUCSON SAINTS

112 S. Kolb Road

520-886-1003; medicalmarijuanaoftucson.com

Open: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily

COMICS

FREE WILL ASTROLOGY

Go to RealAstrology.com to check out Rob Brezsny’s EXPANDED WEEKLY HOROSCOPE 1-877-873-4888 or 1-900-950-7700 $1.99 per minute. 18 and over. Touchtone phone required.

ARIES (MARCH 21-APRIL 19)

Noah Webster ((1758–1843) worked for years to create the first definitive American dictionary. It became a cornucopia of revelation for poet Emily Dickinson (1830-1886). She said that for many years it was her “only companion.” One biographer wrote, “The dictionary was no mere reference book to her; she read it as a priest his breviary—over and over, page by page, with utter absorption.” Now would be a favorable time for you to get intimate with a comparable mother lode, Aries. I would love to see you find or identify a resource that will continually inspire you for the rest of 2023.

TAURUS (APRIL 20-MAY 20)

“The aspects of things that are most important for us are hidden because of their simplicity and familiarity.” So declared Taurus philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein in his book “Philosophical Investigations.” Luckily for you Tauruses, you have a natural knack for making sure that important things don’t get buried or neglected, no matter how simple and familiar they are. And you’ll be exceptionally skilled at this superpower during the next four weeks. I hope you will be gracious as you wield it to enhance the lives of everyone you care about. All of us non-Bulls will benefit from the nudges you offer as we make our course corrections.

GEMINI

(MAY 21-JUNE 20)

Poet Carolyn Kizer said the main subject of her work was this: “You cannot meet someone for a moment, or even cast eyes on someone in the street, without changing.” I agree with her. The people we encounter and the influences they exert make it hard to stay fixed in our attitudes and behavior. And the people we know well have even more profound transformative effects. I encourage you to celebrate this truth in the coming weeks. Thrive on it. Be extra hungry for and appreciative of all the prods you get to transcend who you used to be and become who you need to be.

CANCER

(JUNE 21-JULY 22)

If you have any interest in temporari-

ly impersonating a Scorpio, the coming weeks will be a favorable time to play around. Encounters with good, spooky magic will be available. More easily than usual, you could enjoy altered states that tickle your soul with provocative insights. Are you curious about the mysteries of intense, almost obsessive passion? Have you wondered if there might be ways to deal creatively and constructively with your personal darkness? All these perks could be yours—and more. Here’s another exotic pleasure you may want to explore: that half-forbidden zone where dazzling heights overlap with the churning depths. You are hereby invited to tap into the erotic pleasures of spiritual experiments and the spiritual pleasures of erotic experiments.

LEO

(JULY 23-AUG. 22)

The circle can and will be complete—if you’re willing to let it find its own way of completing itself. But I’m a bit worried that an outdated part of you may cling to the hope of a perfection that’s neither desirable nor possible. To that outdated part of you, I say this: Trust that the Future You will thrive on the seeming imperfections that arise. Trust that the imperfections will be like the lead that the Future You will alchemically transmute into gold. The completed circle can’t be and shouldn’t be immaculate and flawless.

VIRGO (AUG. 23-SEPT. 22)

Shakespeare’s work has been translated from his native English into many languages. But the books of Virgo detective novelist Agatha Christie have been translated far more than the Bard’s. (More info: tinyurl.com/ChristieTranslations.) Let’s make Christie your inspirational role model for the next four weeks. In my astrological estimation, you will have an extraordinary capacity to communicate with a wide variety of people. Your ability to serve as a mediator and go-between and translator will be at a peak. Use your superpower wise-

LIBRA (SEPT. 23-OCT. 22)

Libran musician Franz Liszt (1811–1886) was a prolific and influential genius who created and played music with deep feeling. He was also physically attractive and charismatic. When he performed, some people in the audience swooned and sighed loudly as they threw their clothes and jewelry on stage. But there was another side of Liszt. He was a generous and attentive teacher for hundreds of piano students, and always offered his lessons free of charge. He also served as a mentor and benefactor for many renowned composers, including Wagner, Chopin, and Berlioz. I propose we make Liszt your inspirational role model for the next 11 months. May he rouse you to express yourself with flair and excellence, even as you shower your blessings on worthy recipients.

SCORPIO (OCT. 23-NOV. 21)

This may risk being controversial, but in the coming weeks, I’m giving you cosmic authorization to engage in what might appear to be cultural appropriation. Blame it on the planets! They are telling me that to expand your mind and heart in just the right ways, you should seek inspiration and teaching from an array of cultures and traditions. So I encourage you to listen to West African music and read Chinese poetry in translation and gaze at the art of Indigenous Australians. Sing Kabbalistic songs and say Lakota prayers and intone Buddhist chants. These are just suggestions. I will leave it to your imagination as you absorb a host of fascinating influences that amaze and delight and educate you.

SAGITTARIUS (NOV. 22-DEC. 21)

“All the world’s a stage,” Shakespeare wrote, “and all the men and women merely players.” That’s always true, but it will be even more intensely accurate for you in the coming weeks. High-level pretending and performing will be happening. The plot twists may revolve around clandestine machinations and secret agendas. It will be vital for you to listen for what people are NOT saying as well as the hidden and symbolic mean-

ings behind what they are saying. But beyond all those cautionary reminders, I predict the stories you witness and are part of will often be interesting and fun.

CAPRICORN (DEC. 22-JAN. 19)

In this horoscope, I offer you wisdom from Capricorn storyteller Michael Meade. It’s a rousing meditation for you in the coming months. Here’s Meade: “The genius inside a person wants activity. It’s connected to the stars; it wants to burn and it wants to create and it has gifts to give. That is the nature of inner genius.” For your homework, Capricorn, write a page of ideas about what your genius consists of. Throughout 2023, I believe you will express your unique talents and blessings and gifts more than you ever have before.

AQUARIUS (JAN. 20-FEB. 18)

Greek writer Nikos Kazantzakis (1883–1957) was nominated nine times for the prestigious Nobel Prize in Literature, but never won. He almost broke through in the last year of his life, but French author Albert Camus beat him by one vote. Camus said Kazantzakis was “a hundred times more” deserving of the award than himself. I will make a wild prediction about you in the coming months, Aquarius. If there has been anything about your destiny that resembles Kazantzakis’s, chances are good that it will finally shift. Are you ready to embrace the gratification and responsibility of prime appreciation?

PISCES (FEB. 19-MARCH 20)

Piscean educator Parker Palmer has a crucial message for you to meditate on in the coming weeks. Read it tenderly, please. Make it your homing signal. He said, “Solitude does not necessarily mean living apart from others; rather, it means never living apart from one’s self. It is not about the absence of other people—it is about being fully present to ourselves, whether or not we are with others. Community does not necessarily mean living face-to-face with others; rather, it means never losing the awareness that we are connected to each other.”

By Rob Brezsny.

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55 Neither wins nor loses

Edited by Will Shortz

Edited by Will Shortz No. 1110

ACROSS

1 Out of one’s gourd

5 Zeal

10 “Nixon in China” role

13 Its behavior is described by quantum physics

14 Info on an invitation

15 Finsteraarhorn, e.g.

23 Instrument that superseded the ophicleide

57 “American ___”

58 Kind of layer

51 Uglúk or Gorbag in “The Lord of the Rings”

59 Gofer, say

25 MSN competitor

26 Fangs

60 Suzuki product, in brief

61 Bighearted sort

52 Actor/comedian Eric

54 Big feller?

30 Brunch beverage

33 Former 34 “Too true!”

62 What’s spelled out, appropriately, a er mapping the coordinates indicated by this puzzle’s circled le ers

35 Beekeeper Shavitz, who lent his name to a popular lip balm

DOWN

55 Neither wins nor loses

57 “American ___”

58 Kind of layer

1 Rodeo ring?

59 Gofer, say

2 Animal with webbed feet

3 Sporty car

4 Radisson competitor

37 All over again

Instrument that superseded the ophicleide

16 Lucy Lawless had one on “Xena: Warrior Princess”

MSN competitor 26 Fangs

30 Brunch beverage

18 One given to fawning

33 Former 34 “Too true!”

19 Brown shade

60 Suzuki product, in brief

5 “How adorable!”

38 2012 Oscarwinning role for Daniel Day-Lewis

6 Diamonds, geometrically

7 Outward behavior

8 Mouthy?

40 Becomes less green, say

35 Beekeeper Shavitz, who lent his name to a popular lip balm

37 All over again

20 Giedroyc of “The Great British Bake Off ”

9 Kylo ___ of “Star Wars” films

10 Small shell-shaped confection

42 Rupiah spenders

11 Medicinal succulent

44 Pref ix with hotel

38 2012 Oscar-winning role for Daniel Day-Lewis

40 Becomes less green, say

21 Many a Disney Channel star

42 Rupiah spenders

44 Prefix with hotel

22 Smelter’s supply

61 Bighear ted sor t 62 What’s spelled out, appropriately, after mapping the coordinates indicated by this puzzle’s circled letters

12 Word with French, British or Australian

45 Like some insensitive remarks, for shor t

17 Farewells

21 Core-strengthening floor exercises

24 Not up to it

46 Sham

45 Like some insensitive remarks, for short

46 Sham

49 Hide

49 Hide

51 Uglúk or Gorbag in “The Lord of the Rings”

52 Actor/comedian Eric ___

54 Big feller?

25 Apt le ers missing from assimil_ _ _d

26 Cook up

27 Set up, in a way

28 Eliot Ness and co.

29 Swings a 54-Across at, say

30 Timbuktu’s locale

31 “Let’s do it!”

Rodeo ring? 2 Animal with webbed feet 3 Spor ty car 4 Radisson competitor 5 “How adorable!” 6 Diamonds, geometrically

32 Dmitri ___, formulator of the periodic law

Outward behavior

Mouthy?

Kylo ___ of “Star Wars” films

Small shellshaped confection

Medicinal succulent

Word with French, British or Australian 17 Farewells 21 Corestreng thening floor exercises 24 Not up to it

36 Not confident about

“Let’s do it!”

39 Strawberry Fields underwriter

41 The emperor’s people, in the 2000 Disney comedy “The Emperor’s New Groove”

43 Recite ritually

46 Aleve alternative

47 Doctrine

48 Part of a doctrine 49 Smurf with a red cap 50 O en-backlit sign

Dmitri ___, formulator of the periodic law

51 Grain-shaped pasta

53 Kind of tide

55 A.L. East team, on scoreboards

Part of a doctrine

Not confident about

56 Enter, for one

Strawberry Fields under writer

The emperor’s people, in the 2000 Disney comedy “The Emperor’s New Groove”

Recite ritually

PUZZLE BY DAN CAPRERA