Downtown Sculpture: "DIAPHANOUS YES - VISIONARY YEP"

Kim Moody and Alwun House have done so much to support those of us who are involved with this blog...lets all try to support this cause. Kim doesn't ask for much. And he gives an awful lot to the community. Without Kim Moody's efforts to keep Alwun House alive, Phoenix's arts culture would have burned out a long time ago.

Most unforgettable works of art and architecture are ridiculed until people give it a chance (think I.M. Pei's Louvre Pyramid, The Eiffel Tower, The Pompidou Center-which features outdoor changing exhibitions of sculpture that parents bring their kids to see!) Even if your sole motive is to stick it to the French, lets open our minds and move our feet to put Arizona on the arts map.

Here's Kim's message:

"Act now in your own creative way, or don't complain if Phoenix is just a 'backwater hick-town'; we're better than that!

One way or another, please voice your displeasure with select city staffers cutting off at the knees, our first biggest chance to have an image-able 21st Century City Center; with an art project at our municipal heart that speaks to our progressive energetic creative core! (our Mayor already gave away Patriots Square Park to City-scrape).

Phoenix is at a crossroad - do we step up and/or speak-up in defense of an exciting work by an International artist? (what a giant step backwards we'll all take as the bright new leading city, if bureaucratic twits arbitrarily succeed and STOP this project already in progress and budgeted)

There's a public hearing on Friday (below) and Council Meeting next week (watch the news for date and time - prepare to bring friends - come early to get a seat!!!)

Special Arts, Culture & Historic Preservation Subcommittee
Time: 1:30pm.
Date: Friday December 14th Phoenix City Hall: 200 W. Washington, Phoenix, AZ. on the 12th Floor.

"ALL WE ARE SAYING IS GIVE ART A CHANCE!!"- Mariah

Barenda Sperduti, ED, AZ Action for the Arts wrote:
As you may know, the City of Phoenix recently decided to cancel a planned public art project by artist Janet Echelman, selected for the Phoenix Civic Space, citing various issues. After the response from concerned citizens, the City has agreed to refer the issue to the sub-committee of the City Arts, Culture & Historic Preservation. The committee will review the issue and make a recommendation to the City Council. This is a public meeting that will give you the opportunity to let the City of Phoenix know that you value public art. Please cut and paste the following links for more information about the issue.

azcentral.com/community/phoenix/articles/1209art1209-ON.html">
azcentral/com/news/article/1210publicart1211/html">

Support Live Local Music!

There's a good article by Larry Rodgers in today's Arizona Republic about the Hacienda Brothers, a fine "western soul" group with Tucson roots. They will be playing at the Rhythm Room in Phoenix this Wednesday night, December 12th. Anybody who likes the music of the Flying Burrito Brothers and Gram Parsons should be there! I've seen these guys twice before at the RR, and they are awesome live performers.

Also - Andy Hersey will be playing an acoustic "Happy Hour" gig at Club Mardis Gras in Scottsdale (8040 E. McDowell) this Thursday from 4:30 to 6:00 PM. Not the most convenient hours, but a good chance to see him in a more intimate setting.

Finally - the Breadwinners, a terrific local bluegrass group, plays every Tuesday evening at the Red Owl, 2155 E. University in Tempe (at the southwest corner of University and Loop 101).

Take time out from the hectic Christmas season to attend one of more of these shows - you won't regret it!

Tom

New sources of online music

The AMEHOF fundraiser was great fun. Thanks to all those who put it together, the folks at the Rhythm Room, and the artists who played there!

I thought you all might like to know about a few online sources for music that recalls the salad days of KCAC and KDKB.

Wolfgang's Vault contains the audio archives of Bill Graham. Apparently, he recorded nearly every concert he ever presented - at the Fillmores East and West and many other venues - and, incredibly, those are being offered as FREE streaming audio! We're talking about hundreds of previously unreleased concert recordings from the late 1960s through the 1980s, by artists such as the Who, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue, the Allman Brothers Band (with and without Duane), the Electric Flag, Jimi Hendrix, Ry Cooder, Warren Zevon, Elvis Costello, Bruce Springsteen (a legendary 1978 show, in its 3-hour entirety!), U2, Fleetwood Mac (the Peter Green era as well as the Stevie Nicks era), and Arizona's own Tubes in a pair of 1974 shows. Selected concerts are also available as MP3 downloads for $9.98 per show, regardless of length. This is a truly remarkable site! It contains a searchable database to find whatever artist you're interested in, including many lesser-known artists such as Tracy Nelson and the Incredible String Band. Finally, the site has a link to an online edition of Crawdaddy Magazine, which offers extensive and intelligent discussion of music past and present. The current issue has articles on Nick Drake, the Replacements, and Wilco, to name a few.

Also check out Rhino Handmade , which sells limited-edition reissues of classic albums, box sets, and previously unreleased material, all with top-notch sound quality and packaging, and often with bonus tracks. Their latest offering is a 2-disc reissue of Lee Hazelwood's 1960s Warner/Reprise solo albums. Only 5000 copies are being manufactured, and when they're sold out, they're off the market for good (except at inflated prices on EBay). This is a legitimate, label-sponsored site - no bootlegs or inferior quality! Accordingly, the discs are not cheap. The Lee Hazelwood set goes for $39.98 plus shipping and handling. Single-disc items are usually about $20. But where else are you going to find an entire, unreleased 1972 concert by Aretha Franklin, or studio outtakes and alternates by Tim Buckley, or a 1962 session by bluesman Mance Lipscomb? Again, there is a searchable database on this site that allows you to look up a particular artist, or to browse through the entire list.

There's also a rival site, , that offers similar deluxe treatments of material from other labels. I got a box set containing all of the Sir Douglas Quintet and Doug Sahm solo LPs from the 1960s, with extensive notes and numerous bonus tracks; and another box set of every recording made by Muddy Waters between 1952 and 1958; but many other titles are available. They are still in the process of a massive Motown reissue campaign that will include virtually everything recorded by that label in the 1960s. These limited-edition items are not cheap, but the quality is impeccable and much of this material is impossible to find in decent sound quality elsewhere.

Keep the for-profit sites in mind for Christmas gifts to your music-loving friends (or for yourself), but enjoy the incredible Wolfgang's Vault recordings FOR FREE anytime!

Tom