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Downtown Chandler comedy series a laugh riot

Bryant Thompson moved to Chandler with his family in 2019 and so far, they love it.

“I’m the only one who misses Chicago,” he said.

He said his wife and daughter, a senior at Chandler High, are enjoying the warmer days. But, there was one thing missing.

“When I got out here, I realized there weren’t a lot of opportunities for things to do,” Thompson said.

He’s helping address that by starting a monthly comedy series called “The Downtown Chandler Comedy Experience.” Thompson is using his connections with national comedians to put on four comedy shows each month.

“I didn’t know many local comedians, but I had experience working with national comedians,” Thompson said. “You have to get out and go to different open mic nights to make sure you have the right one.”

Thompson said he likes to give local comedians a chance to open for a national headliner, which he books through Red Level Entertainment.

“It’s a platform for new comedians,” he said.

So far, he says they found a home in Chandler.

“The crowds are great,” he said. “We only did one show that first month. We increased it to two the second month, and they were packed and sold out. That surprised me because we were up against the Suns in the [NBA] Finals, Game 5.”

Thompson said he had hoped to start the club in March 2020, just about the time the entire world shut down because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Instead, the shows started in June. By August, Thompson was doing four shows a month at West Alley BBQ in downtown Chandler. He has moved the shows to ImprovMANIA because they outgrew the space at West Alley. Thompson said this will give him the flexibility to add more shows if needed.

One comedian who grew up in South Phoenix said it offers a great opportunity for up-and-coming comics to connect with national stars.

“I think that’s super huge,” Terrence DeLane said. “That’s how I got to work with Kevin Hart. He picked four comedians and took them to different states, and that’s where you really learn comedy, by going on the road.”

Some of the national comedians to come to Chandler include Talent Harris, George Willborn, Nick Lewis, Damon Williams and Steve Brown.

DeLane acted as host of the January shows at West Alley. He said it’s a great venue for comedy.

“It allows the comedian to be intimate with the audience,” DeLane said. “I feel like everyone gets a one-on-one experience.”

Thompson said he stumbled on the venue because he’s a member of a cigar bar upstairs and noticed they had a stage when he walked through.

Comedy has changed a bit in the #MeToo era. Some of the jokes from years ago don’t hold up as well today. Some comedians have been criticized for some of their past jokes.

“Before, nothing was off limits,” Thompson said. “The climate has changed in what you can say and can’t say. However, if you’re a seasoned comedian, you know how to make fun where it’s not offensive.”

DeLane said his goal when he’s on stage is to try and heal everybody.

“Everybody wants to laugh,” he said. “My goal is to get you to forget about everything that you’re going through in that hour we’re on stage.”

Thompson said based on the crowds he’s seeing each month, it’s working.

“Word is getting out, and people are coming out and enjoying themselves.”

Bryant Thompson thinks Chandler could use some more laughs so he started the Downtown Chandler Comedy Experience. (David Minton/GetOut Staff)

If you go

Where: Downtown Chandler Comedy Experience When: Fridays and Saturdays, third weekend of month, 7 and 9:30 p.m. Where: ImprovMANIA, 250 S. Arizona Ave. Tickets: Start at $20

Puppets put a new spin on TV show ‘Golden Girls’

BY CHRISTINA FUOCO-KARASINSKI

Staff Writer

Betty White was beloved by many, but Samantha Lee Mason gets to share that adoration nightly.

She plays White’s character, Rose, in “That Golden Girls Show!” a new “theater experience” that parodies classic “Golden Girls” moments – with puppets. Mason lists the reasons to see the show: cheesecake, laughter, Jazzercise, shoulder pads, sex and schemes.

“It’s super fun,” Mason said. “The character of Rose is known for being very sweet and, playfully, somewhat dim. She’s very earnest and naïve.

“I love getting to bring her to life every day on the stage. Playing Betty White’s character – especially since her death – does bring a lot of weight to the world. It wasn’t there to begin with since I started. I now have the great pleasure to carry on Betty’s legacy the best way I can.”

The 75-minute “That Golden Girls Show!” hits the Chandler Center for the Arts stage on Thursday, March 17, to Sunday, March 20.

“Our story is told through three episodes of the ‘Golden Girls,’” she said. “They’re not episodes that were directly pulled from the actual show. It’s an amalgamation of different lines in the series with a new storyline within the world of the show. It’s very short, very sweet and you’ll laugh the whole time.”

She confesses that even she has a hard time keeping cool during the performance.

“I tend to be pretty good in terms of staying with it in the show,” she said. “But there have been a few moments when something crazy happens and you have to really focus. That’s the beauty of live theater.”

A Chicago native, Mason is a trained musical theater performer who attended Indiana University. Now residing in New York City, she had puppeting experience, thanks to a run with “Reusable the Musical,” written and directed by John Tartaglia.

“Most of my other performances are in musical theater,” she said. “I lived in Japan and worked for Tokyo Disney Resort for a year and a half. I wanted to travel the world, and that was the best way to do it.”

Mason admits she wasn’t an “avid watcher” prior to her auditions for “That Golden Girls Show!” She saw it on Hulu, fell in love with it and binged the entire series.

Now, she gets it.

“That Golden Girls Show!” kicked off its jaunt in 2016 and was forced to close down – just like the rest of the world – due to the pandemic.

“The audience response has just been amazing, too,” she adds. “We look out in the audience and they’re wearing ‘Golden Girls’ face masks. It’s just overwhelming.

“This is the farewell tour now. Fans should see it before it’s gone.”

Samantha Lee Mason gives a hilarious yet reverent spin to the one-time hit TV show "Golden Girls" with her puppet extravaganza coming to Chandler Center for the Arts.

(Special to GetOut)

Chandler displaying its own collection of artwork

Chandler Museum Administrator Jody Crago had been working on setting up a new exhibit that was about to open.

It was late, the sun had set. As he walked through the museum’s hallway he glanced outside the windows.

“There’s two young people, laying on the ground, staring up at the artwork as it moves and changes,” he said.

They were enjoying “Infinite Wave,” a public arts sculpture that doubles as a shade structure outside the museum’s entrance.

During the day, it’s easy to walk under and think of it as little more than a shade structure. Then you notice the shadows. There are 202 wings, or as the construction workers called them, butterflies attached. As the sun changes position, so do the shadows.

But it’s at night when Jeff Zischke’s artwork truly shines, as dozens of programmable LED lights put on a show.

“They actually hired a lighting designer to perfect how to light it,” Crago said. “It bounces light off of the white concrete and back onto the panels. And it’s kinetic, so it moves and changes. It makes it a whole different art piece at night.”

When the City of Chandler builds anything, from a museum to City Hall, one percent of that budget is dedicated to adding a public art project. For the museum, that was “Infinite Wave.”

The museum is currently hosting an exhibition of some of the city’s public art. Most of it, however, is already on the streets, including statues and murals in downtown. The exhibit is scheduled to run through March 27.

“We’ve got about 200 pieces in the collection,” said Peter Bugg, the city’s visual arts coordinator is in charge of the city’s public art collection.

Bugg said he’s actually been trying to get that number down. The city owns some physical objects in the digital archives of the museum, such as film negatives. Since it has the prints, they don’t need the negatives and have been trying to find them a good home.

“It’s a full-time job to care for all these objects and keep them in good shape, especially things that are outdoors and need maintenance,” Bugg said. “We’re working on getting good documentation of everything, so we can get more things online so people can experience it that way.”

He said they’re also working on creating a map that would allow people to travel around the city and see the different works of art.

And there is a lot to see.

“I think you would be surprised is somebody like Peter … walked with you downtown, I think you’d be utterly surprised that in such a small area how much there actually is,” Crago said. “The public arts program does such a good job of integrating interesting design or an artistic aspect into what is a normal thing.”

One area that has been done is commissioning artists to paint original works on utility boxes around the city. Bugg said they’ve done 31 of those boxes so far, most in uptown and near Hamilton High School. He said they plan to do five more this year.

“The bulk of our public art collection is downtown,” Bugg said. “We’re trying to reach out more in the community and see other places where we can put it. It makes sense to have objects downtown, because a lot people come and see it there, but we also want to meet people where they are.”

Bugg said when they add to the collection he looks for a few things.

“We want some sort of tie-in to the local community,” he said. “It could be kind of broad, like desert imagery. Or something specifically Chandler related. Also, trying to support the artists that we have here locally.”

Bugg said they do consider artists from outside the area, but in general they try and support Valley artists.

Crago said this is the first time the museum has displayed the public art in an extensive manner. Both men did not know how often an exhibition like this might return.

“It’ll be as we can,” Crago said. “We both have exhibitions schedules, he does six to eight shows a year (at the Vision Gallery), we do at least that many, plus we do big shows designed by us, so we’re always changing.”

One thing that is not likely to change soon is the light show each night at the museum, which runs from dusk until 10:30 p.m.

Jody Crago, administrator for the Chandler Museum and Peter Bugg, city visual arts coordinator, have developed the “Public Objects” exhibit at Vision Gallery, highlighting

art work that Chandler owns. (David Minton/Staff Photographer)

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Chandler artist brings new works to artists’ gallery

SANTAN SUN NEWS STAFF

The Finer Arts Gallery in Cave Creek, an the artist-owned gallery. Is offering a major refresh of art, including from Chandler ceramicist Sandy Ashbaugh, who has hand-carved sake sets and vessels at the Gallery.

In addition, three artists are being featured in February: fused glass artist Pat Isaacson; Arizona landscape painter Linda Lindus; and custom jewelry maker Jan Stiles.

They join more than 30 other artists in a wide variety of mediums including ceramics, bronze, gourds, photography, metal sculpture, wood live edge, fiber sculpture, graphite, acrylic, pastel and oil.

“We’ve been so pleased with how the community has embraced our new gallery,” said Linda Lindus, one of the managers. “It is such a joy when a patron purchases a piece of art they absolutely love.”

The Gallery holds a monthly meet and greet on the third Friday of the month, with the next scheduled from 4 to 6 p.m. Friday, March 18 with three new featured artists.

Regular Gallery hours are from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday and by appointment.

The Finer Arts Gallery is on the picturesque road winding through Cave Creek and Carefree, in the rustic building known as the Cave Creek Station. It’s still shaded by a grand, 150-year-old Tamarisk tree, fondly remembered by residents as the “Treehouse.” Located at 6137 E. Cave Creek Rd. in Cave Creek, the Gallery is between Big Earls and the Olive Oil Company. Parking is in the rear of the building adjacent to the back entrance.

For details, visit TheFinerArtsGallery. com or call 480-488-2923.

Artists showing there work include: Sandy Ashbaugh, ceramics; Karen Chatfield-Barnhart, sculpture; Beverly Carlson-Bradshaw, pastels; Beth Benowich, jewelry; Nancy Breiman, acrylic; Casey Cheuvront, oil; Sarah Curley, ink/ transfer; Dennis Despois, acrylic; Robert Elenbaas, photography; Cynthia Eral, oil/acrylic; Karen Friend, gourds.

Also, Joanne Galler, acrylic; Paulette Galop, ceramics; Julie Gilber, jewelry; Bill Goren, bronze and ceramicsw; Jan Griggs, acrylic; Rick Griggs, wood sculpture, Sandra Hamilton, photography; Pat Isaacson, glass; Karen Johnson, beaded wall art; Merrily Kulmer and Linda Lindus, acrylic.

Also, Dick Mueller, drawing; Kathy Nelson, glass; Patrick O’Grady and Marlene Sabatina, jewelery; Linda Paul-Sontag, acrylic; Kirby Plessas, digital; Robin Ray, ceramic; Jack Schilder, graphite drawing; Jan Stiles, jewelry, Shannon Taggert. Mixed media; Carol Tenwalde, jewelry; and Ann Von Pentz, photography

Ocotillo ceramicist Sandy Ashbaugh has new works at a Cave Creek gallery.

Last Train to Juarez shares its map to success

BY CHRISTINA FUOCO-KARASINSKI

Staff Writer

With a cowboy hat pulled deep to his eyes and a thick beard, Dejan Knezevic fits the red dirt/outlaw country genre well.

He has his fans fooled – and that’s not a bad thing. Born in Chicago, Knezevic was raised by parents from Montenegro and Bosnia. Serbian is his first language. The Serbian coat of arms adorns his hat.

“My family is from former Yugoslavia,” he said. “I can’t say I’ve ever heard of an American/Serbian country singer before. There’s a first for everything, I guess.”

In late 2018, Knezevic formed Last Train to Juarez, following the lineage of his heroes, Ward Davis, Whitey Morgan, Hank 3 and Jamey Johnson. They celebrate the release of their debut album, “Some Road,” on Friday, March 18, at Roosters in Mesa.

“It was an awakening, so to speak, for me and I quickly started discovering a whole genre of country music that spoke to me,” Knezevic said. “It was around this time that I started seriously considering starting a project in the red dirt/outlaw genre of country music.”

Last Train to Juarez is a departure from previous projects like Pelvic Meatloaf.

“I’ve been in the scene, in metal bands, for the better part of 30 years,” he said. “I didn’t grow up on country music. It was the red dirt/new outlaw movement that got my ears and sold me on it. It’s inspired me to go in this direction, to the dismay of a lot of my metalhead brothers.”

Last Train to Juarez sees Knezevic singing for the first time, something that even surprised his wife of 23 years.

“Sure, I fronted a metal band in the past, but I never really tried singing,” Knezevic sys. “What we did back then was death metal and growling so this whole singing thing was new to me. I wasn’t confident at all. But what I lacked in confidence, I made up with motivation and perseverance.”

In late 2018, he pulled the trigger and went all in.

He had a revolving group of musicians until April 2021, when the lineup was solidified as vocalist/acoustic guitarist Knezevic; Mark Tomeo, pedal steel, dobro, backing vocals; bassist Jonathan Candler and lead guitarist Stephen Dietrich. Additionally, fiddler/ mandolin player Austin Brooks joins. “Our music blurs the lines a bit and doesn’t fit neatly into any specific country genre,” he said.

“I’ve heard people refer to us as outlaw, red dirt, biker country and rock or metal country. Ultimately, what is most important to me as an artist is to write and create music that is pure, honest and authentic. Music that comes from the heart and soul, which is why I prefer to stick with originals over cover tunes.

“Granted, we do play cover songs out of necessity since we are a newer band and don’t have enough original material to cover a four-hour gig but that is quickly changing as I continue to write new material.”

By the end of this year, Last Train to Juarez will be playing 60% originals and

“I have nothing against cover songs at all,” he said.

“It’s just not what I want to do, and I feel there is plenty of cover and tribute bands in the Valley already. I get my kicks hearing performances by singer/ songwriters who have stories to tell and that’s the path I feel is right for me.”

“The fans we are picking up are wholeheartedly embracing what we are doing. I’d rather have 10 people intently watching, listening and appreciating our original songs over a packed room of people singing every word to a Luke Bryan or Florida Georgia Line cover song. Not that there is anything wrong with that. Just not my thing.”

Knezevic said he could pen pop radio songs to “make it big.”

“It ain’t about the destination,” he said. “It’s about the ride and so far the ride has been epic.”

Sometimes Knezevic can’t help but be drawn to music. In 2014, he visited Bosnia and, when he arrived, he was wired due to the time zone changed. From his families’ village, he could hear the faint sounds of music.

As he approached, he could see a fair amount of people under a canopy. He was concerned it was a Croatian, Muslim or Serbian party.

“That definitely matters,” he said. “I tucked my Serbian cross inside of my shirt. If they asked, I was going to say I’m American. I saw two Serbian flags, so I took the necklace out of my shirt.”

As he walked up, the crowed formed around him. “I speak it fluently, but they could hear the accent. Apparently, it was a big party for two sons who were getting ready to go into the military. The military is obligatory. It was a big celebration with bands, they were roasting pigs, it was incredible. I’m sitting there trying to explain.”

Then, a “little old lady” walked up to him and slapped him after he shared his story of walking through the woods and down the road by the refinery.

“I thought, ‘Great. These people are going to kill me now,’” he recalled. “In Serbian, she said, ‘You (expletive) idiot. That’s all mined from the war, you moron. Keep him here until it’s daylight. Feed him well. Show him what an idiot he is. In the morning, they threw me in the car and every 15 feet there was skull and crossbones on a pole.”

Last Train to Juarez will celebrate the release of their new album with a concert in Mesa

Friday, March 18. (Special to GetOut)

If you go

What: Last Train to Juarez When: 8:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. Friday, March 18 Where: Roosters, 3731 E. Main St., Mesa Cost: Free admission Info: 480.985.4088, roosterscountrybar.net