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September 2007

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Published Articles24 Sep 2007 01:50 am

The urge to purge
The honest ramblings of songwriter, rock guitarist Jerry Joseph
By Molly Coulter
Published on 09/20/2007

jerry joseph.jpg

Photo courtesy of Jerry Joseph.

More than two decades ago a raspy voice from Portland, Ore., started covering the dismal and the dour with a new folk force that set ablaze the genre’s standards. Jerry Joseph called on his life’s woes and triumphs to expose the gritty stories of America. He began with a Colorado band of hippies called Little Women, set out solo and led the Jackmormons, teamed up with hard-hitting players in Stockholm Syndrome and comes to Flagstaff in a trio this week. He says his music is his work, not his passion or his art. He says he can’t call his catalogue of 200 to 300 songs prolific. He is self-deprecating and blunt, but even Joseph has to agree that “honest” is a commendation synonymous with his work.
     “The word that I hate the most is the word ‘earnest.’ ‘Earnest’ is Ben Harper and I can’t stand that music,” Joseph says. “Everything is super f**king important and it’s not important. It’s a dumb rock band.”
     I ask him to describe a typical show and he balks. “It’s very hard to be objective,” he says before putting it openly. “It’s an angry little barefoot bald man screaming about whatever for two hours. I’m a little guy with a Napoleon complex.”
     Joseph says he’s more attached to playing live as it’s “more in my face. It’s instant gratification,” as compared to creating and laying down tracks for albums. “I usually only make one a year and as I’m getting older hopefully I’m getting a little better at it so it’s not like pulling teeth,” Joseph says. “But I never hear them again. It’s not like I put on my own music.”
     A few years back the Southern blues, rock jam giants Widespread Panic began covering some of Joseph’s songs and turn to him still for fresh material. “They are written specifically for Panic,” he says. “I wouldn’t even know how to play them. I’m trying to give them an opportunity to own them artistically or whatever.”
     Joseph says he’s typically alone and as far from distraction as geographically possible when he writes music.
     “I tend to write in clusters. I don’t write all the time. I don’t sit down with my guitar at all,” he says. “I’ve got a specific reason to do it, like I’m going to make a record. But I am pretty affected about where I am. This last batch of songs I wrote in Harlem, so it sounds like it a lot. I go to Central America, Mexico, wherever I can go to be by myself. I’m going to Hong Kong in a month and hopefully I can write something there.”
     “It’s only the last couple of years that I’ve been playing with all sorts of different lineups of musicians,” Joseph says. Jerry Joseph and the Jackmormons started up in 1996, aptly taking the name from Joseph’s battle with heroine addiction and recovery that led him to Salt Lake City. His collaborations include five-piece synthesis Stockholm Syndrome featuring guitarist Eric McFadden and Widespread Panic bassist Dave Schools. Joseph and Schools co-created the group realizing their contrasting musical styles and perspectives could form a rock-hard base and additional talented players could fill out the sound. Joseph says he’ll shift focus to a duo with drummer Steve Drizos who has toured and recorded with Joseph in the past. The pair cut an album due for release in December or January, but tie-ups with their label are hanging it in the balance. Joseph says they are aiming for the band name The Denmark Vessey’s, which their recording company can’t swallow. Joseph says most of the country outside of Charleston, S.C., might need to Google “Denmark Vessey.”
     “He’s the black slave that almost pulled off the largest slave rebellion in American history,” he says. The upcoming album is a tribute to heroes, criminals and vigilantes. The band name seems suitable, but Joseph says, “part of the problem [with Vessey] was to kill every White person. However, here in Harlem he’s pretty f**king cool.”
     Joseph answers my questions via cell phone as he walks to the bank near his home. He apologizes from the get-go, telling me there’s always someone screaming on the streets. Throughout the conversation I hear his assertion is correct.
     “Harlem is funny,” he says. “

One street

’s cool and the next one is pretty scary.”
     Though he’s commonly associated with Portland, Ore., Joseph says he spent time just south of Flagstaff as well.
     “I’ve been playing Flagstaff since 1982,” he says. “I have a mixed relationship with it. When I was a kid I lived for a little while outside of Sedona. I have friends there. I’ve had a lot of interaction with it and if anything, it feels like we don’t play there enough. It’s an important place to play if you’re going through Arizona. This tour we’re going out of our way to play there. We’re literally just driving down to northern Arizona to stop in Flagstaff.”
     Joseph’s voice sounds a bit like Bruce Cockburn or Van Morrison. You can hear Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen’s influences and he says he admires Elvis Costello, who epitomizes the craft of bizarre lyrical tales that Joseph often creates. But when I ask what musicians continue to influence him he plainly says, “I don’t know if there is something that I draw on continually. If I haven’t got my own voice by now, I’m running a little late.”
     Jerry Joseph, Steve Drizos and Junior Ruppel will play Sun, Sept. 23 at Mogollon Brewing Co.,

15 N. Agassiz St

. The show is $10 and starts at 8 p.m. Local jamsters Sick Finger Guru are slated to open. For more information, call 773-8950.

’s cool and the next one is pretty scary.” Though he’s commonly associated with Portland, Ore., Joseph says he spent time just south of Flagstaff as well. “I’ve been playing Flagstaff since 1982,” he says. “I have a mixed relationship with it. When I was a kid I lived for a little while outside of Sedona. I have friends there. I’ve had a lot of interaction with it and if anything, it feels like we don’t play there enough. It’s an important place to play if you’re going through Arizona. This tour we’re going out of our way to play there. We’re literally just driving down to northern Arizona to stop in Flagstaff.” Joseph’s voice sounds a bit like Bruce Cockburn or Van Morrison. You can hear Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen’s influences and he says he admires Elvis Costello, who epitomizes the craft of bizarre lyrical tales that Joseph often creates. But when I ask what musicians continue to influence him he plainly says, “I don’t know if there is something that I draw on continually. If I haven’t got my own voice by now, I’m running a little late.” Jerry Joseph, Steve Drizos and Junior Ruppel will play Sun, Sept. 23 at Mogollon Brewing Co., . The show is $10 and starts at 8 p.m. Local jamsters Sick Finger Guru are slated to open. For more information, call 773-8950.

Published Articles24 Sep 2007 01:47 am

This week’s cover!

The Fire Within
‘Round the wheel with Earth-n-Ware ceramics studio
By Molly Coulter
Published on 09/20/2007

Jars of clay: Chandra K. Robinson, of Earth-n-Ware ceramics, trims a bowl in her studio. Photo by Josh Biggs.
In American cities with train fairways, the phrase “south of the tracks” exists—often denoting areas of high crime and alerting others to the risks of rubbing the underbelly. Just south of the tracks in downtown Flagstaff a group of often over-looked businesses and residences are booming with historical etchings, ethnic meals and diverse musical and artistic talents. One Southside gallery and studio opened its doors two years ago and has established itself as the premier center for ceramic arts in northern Arizona.
     “The Southside has so much good art down here and I’d really like it to take off,” shop owner and ceramic instructor Chandra Robinson says inside Earth-n-Ware ceramics, 113 W. Phoenix Ave. “It’s a hidden jewel of downtown and most people don’t experience it.”
     Robinson explains every week someone, usually a local, will pop in to her shop and exclaim he or she didn’t realize her store existed. But those who have unearthed the studio have kept busy learning from Robinson and improving their abilities.
     “I took classes once before and it was really different from the way Chandra teaches,” says Len Cooley, one of the students positioned at one of eight potter’s wheels during the Intermediate Throwing class offered twice weekly. “It is much easier to learn from her. I would say 90 percent of what Chandra teaches us, I didn’t know before.”
     Kathy McKeiver agrees. “She’ll watch you while you’re working and give you tips while you’re throwing,” she says. “If you’re doing it incorrectly, it’s probably because you don’t know how to do it the right way.”

     Robinson approaches another student as she forms a bottle, which Robinson had demonstrated earlier in the evening class.
     “When you’re slicing in, you’re essentially going really slow,” she says. “It steadies you and it’s all about the support. You see all them buckles? Get your fingers in there and give it a little bit of compression.”
     Robinson graduated with a degree in art from Ohio University and worked for another Flagstaff ceramicist before opting to open her own shop in 2005.
     “I felt that Flagstaff needed a studio for artists who didn’t have their own studios to come and work in and to work with others in a community setting,” she says. “I didn’t have room to have a studio of my own so I was taking classes, but I didn’t want to be in school anymore. I didn’t want to be in an institutional setting and there are many others like me—so with inspiration from Ellen Tibbetts, a veteran Flagstaff artist, I put together the idea of opening this place. I talked about it with her and people had been talking about this for years and years. She said nobody has done it and kind of pushed me.”
     Earth-n-Ware’s studio space holds potter’s wheels, work benches, ample wall shelves for drying art and two kilns for firing students’ work. Robinson offers beginning to advanced classes in creating tile and throwing clay that run in eight-week sessions. Children and adults alike can sign up or elect general membership that guarantees work space without instruction. Even the trained potter who has the time and space at home to create, but may not have the space and money for a kiln can rent cubic inches to fire their own artwork.
     “It enables some people to be able to work at home at their own pace and maybe those people don’t have room or can’t afford a kiln, but they have a place they can bring it to,” Robinson says. “Even with the memberships, maybe they don’t have an extra bedroom or a space in their garage, so this gives them a space where they can come to work and work in a community setting. You learn from others when you’re working around people rather than working alone. You can see the mistakes that other people make or the triumphs they achieve.”
     Student Karen McKay agrees. “I really try to brush up on certain skills and learn new pointers,” she says. “It’s nice to get around other people. I’m at home all day with a 2-year-old. I have a wheel at home, but I get kind of stuck doing the same stuff.”
     Her statement is validated as the members of the Intermediate Throwing class compliment each others’ work and suggest other creations. Student Ryan Drum explains to Robinson his ideas for a bird feeder and a stove-top utensil holder. Brye Baker says she enjoys getting away from work, home and school and the bind of graded expectations. While McKeiver says walking the path of artistic self-improvement is most enjoyable.
     “I’m definitely getting better, which is nice,” she says. “I like watching the progression; looking at earlier pieces compared to more recent pieces.”
     Robinson’s self-improvement is evident inside the gallery, which also features students’ and members’ work for sale. When the business opened Robinson lined the cinderblock shelves with typical ceramics: pots, plates, cups and bowls. Now the store-front displays jewelry, plates for covering electrical wall units, toothbrush holders, chalices and other innovative designs that are as practical as they are pleasing. A ceramic tile sign hanging near the rear of the building points to the unisex bathroom with clever use of male and female symbols. Robinson hunts through rummage stores for clocks to dismantle and salvage their parts for arty timepieces. Remnants of broken clay pots and kiln-shattered casualties grow anew in a small garden fencing the shop’s exterior.
     Like all great artists, Robinson says financial wavering has been the greatest difficulty in running the shop. However, she says the rewards of watching students and their abilities grow outweigh the high costs of overhead.
     “I have had students like Karen McKay who started at Earth-n-Ware and took the tile class,” she says. “Then she moved on to the beginning throwing class, then the advanced. She was so excited about what she had learned that she asked for a potter’s wheel for her birthday. With a 2-year-old she can’t find much time at home, so she comes here. It makes me feel like I’ve somewhat been an inspiration to people by turning them on to the process. I love seeing people fall in love with it.”
     “I had another student who is moving to Montana and is considering opening up a place like this there,” she continues. “I’m very sad to lose her, but she’s trying to learn as much as she can before she leaves and I wish her the best of luck.”
     Earth-n-Ware ceramics is a regular stop on the First Friday Art Walk and Robinson says she loves curious window shoppers, so take a peak next time you’re in the Southside. For more information on classes, memberships and other business inquiries, check out www.earth-n-ware.com.

Published Articles13 Sep 2007 11:06 am

Jazzzzzzz

Rebirth of cool
Flagstaff jazz has an awakening with a three-night Flag Brew run
By Molly Coulter
Published on 09/06/2007

Soultrane: Giant Steps’ (from left) Ron James, Zirque Bonner, Chris Benevidez, and Brad Bays. Photos by Cassandra Knudsen, courtesy of Ron James and Giant Steps.

The kiddies march to their classrooms. The teens have started begging for lifts in lieu of riding the dreaded school bus. The university is abuzz with record-setting enlistments. The school year is underway in the traditional settings and this weekend everyone can sit in on three sets to be schooled in the art of jazz music.
     Local drummer Ron James will present his Giant Steps traditional jazz combo featuring visiting Seattle guitarist Christian Smith on Thursday and Friday. Saturday night local celebrity and certified jazz master Joel DiBartolo will join James, Smith and a troupe of rotating Charles Mingus devotees in Pithecanthropus Erectus.
     “It’s a true American art form,” James says. “It originated in New Orleans, which has significance these days because of Katrina. The music is the soul of New Orleans and if that dies, the spirit of New Orleans will die with it.”
     James first took the drum throne at age 8 and began playing professionally nearly 20 years ago. A graduate of Northern Arizona University’s jazz studies program, James has played with a number of memorable acts throughout the years including Fat Lip Quartet and Onus B.
Johnson. He and Gravy guitarist Brad Bays began Giant Steps about five years ago changing lineups to include a grab bag of jazz instructors and students. This weekend’s performances will showcase Smith, whose scholarly pursuits include the prestigious Berkeley School of Music in Boston; upright bass player Zirque Bonner, who is employed at the Verde Valley School and tours with jazz guitarist Stanley Jordan; Chris Benevidez, who studied jazz saxophone under DiBartolo at NAU; and James.
     “That was my first priority when I moved back from Seattle was to get this group back together and it’s been going really well,” James says. After a successful year-and-a-half stint in Washington James returned to Flagstaff with a heightened drive to promote jazz music.
     “It’s important to encourage younger people to play jazz because, to me, musically jazz is on a higher level than rock or pop,” James says. “It takes a lot more practice, schooling to master these jazz tunes. Once you’re able to play the music, you can take it to levels that are only bound by your own imagination. And that freedom of improvisation and arrangement on the fly is what makes the music really interesting to me and to the listener.”
     Giant Steps appear bi-weekly on Thursday nights at Flagstaff Brewing Co. and James hopes the band’s growing momentum will motivate other jazz groups to book shows about town.
     “Hopefully there’s going to be a resurgence here,” he says. “I always encourage especially younger people to come and play with us if they can. Now that I’m going to be playing with Joel DiBartolo, I hope to get a little more involved with NAU and to encourage some of the younger students around to start gigging around town.”
     DiBartolo, who heads up NAU’s jazz studies program and is a former member of “The Tonight Show” band, will surely draw a crowd Saturday night, but the five-piece horn section behind him ought to spark interest, as well. Pithecanthropus Erectus, named after a Charles Mingus album that many musicians attest liberated jazz, has been popping up sporadically in Flagstaff for about five years. A Nogales, Ariz., native, Mingus is famous for his bass playing and arrangement of big band styles while keeping a small group feel, James says.
     “It’s very raucous and very loud music, using blaring horns,” he says. “We don’t practice. We do have the charts written out and arranged so as long as any of the guys we get to play are good enough readers, they can come in and read down the charts. When you have good players it doesn’t matter if you’ve ever met them before, you can come together and play a whole night of music without rehearsing and make it sound great.”
     James says the eight-piece Mingus group will stick to the legendary musician’s tunes, but Giant Steps will feature a mix of original and standard jazz songs.
     “We try to make them our own and put our own stamp on it by maybe playing it in a different style than it was originally intended or maybe turning it into a free-form song, not necessarily in time and stripped chord structure. More like a space jam.”
     Catch all three shows at Flagstaff Brewing Co., 16 E. Route 66. Weather allowing, Giant Steps will play the outside stage Thu, Sept. 6 at 9:30 p.m., and from 6:30–9:30 p.m. Fri, Sept. 7 during the First Friday Art Walk. Sat, Sept. 8 Pithecanthropus Erectus will play at 10 p.m. For more information, call 773-1442 or see www.myspace.com/giantstepsflag.

Published Articles04 Sep 2007 11:27 pm

Karna Otten

Flag’s musical co-op queen
Karna Otten embraces the unity of things and crafts some great songs
By Molly Coulter
Published on 08/30/2007

After playing guitar and crafting a list of original songs throughout the past 12 years, local singer-songwriter Karna Otten recently decided her art deserved her undivided attention. A few months ago she quit her day job, slung her acoustic Alvarez across her back and began canvassing Flagstaff with her blues and folk sound. She’s been opening for local bands and playing gigs solo at all hours and on every downtown stage so chances are, you’ve caught her act once or twice. But if you’ve been living in a cave or the opportunity has escaped you, you can catch two shows this week. She’s building a fanbase and in an instant Karna’s going to get you too.
     “I can do it now or I could never do it. You’ll never know if you don’t do it,” Otten says. “Somebody was saying it takes all this time to make it, but I feel like I’ve already made it and ideally I want to just live off of the music.”
     Otten ditched the Midwest and journeyed to Flagstaff four years ago alongside a boyfriend who became an ex. “Music played a huge part in me getting through that,” Otten says. “I can look at the music pre-break-up, during and after and I can see it: when I was down, when I was feeling certain things.
Now my music has empowerment and I think because of how things were I was so inside of myself and I can see that in my songs. Now I have been really taking everything outside of me in and the things I’ve observed.”
     Love is a common theme among most musicians, so it’s no surprise Otten incorporates songs embracing and dealing with the universal force. She covers jazz singer Norah Jones with a romantic intensity that would make the famed singer proud. But Otten explains she’s progressing into the realm of storytelling owned by fellow Minnesotan Bob Dylan.
     “I write from the experiences that I have, but I’m heading in this direction with my songwriting where it’s more of a story than just verse, chorus, verse, chorus. There’s a beginning and an end to it,” she says.
     Otten picked up the guitar while she worked at a hospital back home. Her co-worker taught her a few chords and eventually gave her his instrument, which she played for five years. Otten passed on the guitar as well. “I used to work at the alternative center and I brought it in for the kids to use. One grew really attached to it. From the time he picked it up and to the time he was leaving his improvement was amazing so I gave it to him. The way I feel about guitars is that if I’m not using it, someone else should be.”
     Her friends thought the same of their guitar collecting dust in a closet, so they gave it to Otten as a Christmas gift. And just a few weeks ago another friend handed her a banjo.
     “I had an electric guitar that I gave to a friend, which I later regretted, but it’s so crazy. It’s manifestation or karma, but all my instruments have been given to me when I wanted one or when I needed one,” she says.
     Otten attended a music college and took a stab at open mic nights, but she didn’t fully embrace music until she moved to Flagstaff. After many great Tuesday open mic nights at Charly’s she found her passion.
     “Even just like journaling, getting that out, I feel lucky that I can share that with people: the human experience. It fills a very spiritual place for me,” Otten says. “It serves as a therapeutic tool. When I’m doing music I feel whole physically and mentally. Since I haven’t had a job the first couple of weeks there were a few days where I found myself holed up in my bedroom just playing music all day. Also, when I’m doing the music, it fills a social aspect. You see people and you’re constantly connecting. You’re never really off of work. You’re always connecting.”
     Otten says those connections are the rewards for her hard work.
     “I think the thing I enjoy the most is when people are listening and I can see that they are connecting with what I’m doing on stage,” she says. “I can feed off of that. I have this song ‘Crush’ and it’s really personal and it can be about anybody. I’m sharing this openly and it could be in my diary and I’m up there and not scared. You share such a personal part of yourself in your songs. It’s an opportunity to be an open book without freaking people out.
     “And I just love music,” she says and laughs about her optimistic answer. “But I do, with such a passion. Any time that I have people playing with me or sharing that experience with people, it just feels good.”
     See Karna Otten live this week at the Mountainaire Tavern, 110 Mountainaire Road, Sun, Sept. 2 at 4 p.m. She’ll also be appearing on Live Lunch at Noon on Northern Arizona University’s KJACK 1680 AM on Wed, Sept. 5. For more info, see www.myspace.com/goodkarna.

September 2007

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