Today@Arcosanti - Events category

JUNETEENTH 2008 FESTIVAL AND ARTS FAIR

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 18:29:06 GMT

JUNETEENTH Festival started with days of preparation. We reported on 6/16 about installation of the gigantic parachute over the Colly Soleri amphitheater.
[photos from left]
At Cordes Junction, the crew [planning coordinator Jenn Epstein with workshop participants Alex Alex West, Alex Dixon and Starlyn Cag], taped a nicely executed sign to the guardrail in front of the Shell Station. [photo: Jenn Epstein]
A smaller parachute was put up over the keystone to shelter some of the vendors.
Vendor Husain Abdul-Alim of Spiritwood works on one of his sculptures. Husain has been part of this festival every year with his beautiful hand carved wooden masks and a great selection of hand made jewelry, hats, eclectic clothing, incense and more. There were a variety of vendors with hats and T-shirts, crystals and jewelry, sculpture, mobiles and clothing. The Arcosanti garden crew offered braided garlic, mulberry jelly and delicious olives.
Friday's schedule started with a delicious soul-food dinner [fried catfish, rice and beans, fried cornbread, collared greens] prepared by Henry of Henry Turner Jr. and Flavor reggae band.
Milt Cannon opened the event in the Vaults with a mellow performance by CANNONFIRE. This was followed with a reggae dance party to the music of HENRY TURNER JR. and FLAVOR, with Ronny Huston and Kenny D. HENRY TURNER JR. and FLAVOR also gave the closing performance on Saturday and Sunday. [photo: Tomiaki Tamura]

[Photos: Jenn Epstein, sa and tt & text: sa]

On Saturday, the CANNONFIRE Ensemble started the day, followed by a dynamic performance by THE CUNNINGHAMS. The musicians of Cannonfire Ensemble are
Cal McCarthy, guitar,
Randi Carter, drums,
Al Sarco, piano,
Ed Carter, bass,
and Milt Cannon, saxophone. There were also guest performances by Rick Jones, trumpet and Ben Apple, trombone and Selwyn Reams, bass.
Fireball LADY J HUSTON performed for the first time at this festival both Saturday and Sunday, and literally blew our socks off.

[Photos & text: sa]

[photos from left]
Lady J Huston during Sundays performance in the nicely shaded amphitheater.
[photo: Tomiaki Tamura]
GENEVIEVE gave a graceful and moving rendering of familiar and new songs on both Saturday and Sunday.
"King of Phoenix Blues" BIG PETE PEARSON, graced the event with his amazing voice, solo and for a few songs with Lady J Huston.
This event has been a musical highlight for many years and this year again, event organizer Milt Cannon put together a line-up of very talented musicians. Milt Cannon leads the Prescott Jazz Society PJAZZ and has conceived and organized JUNETEENTH at Arcosanti for the past 10 years.

[Photos: tt, sa & text: sa]

JUNETEENTH 2008 FESTIVAL AND ARTS FAIR

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 17:56:03 GMT

This week-end was filled with wonderful music during the JUNETEENTH 2008 Jazz Splash Festival. Images of the performances will be posted on 6/18/08.
Today's report gives a few glimpses of some of the preparation for the event.
We reported on 1/18 through 1/25/08 about the removal of the old tent that covered the Colly Soleri Amphitheater.
Planning department and Graphics are working on a new design for coverage of the stage and seating area.
[photo] David Tollas and Jeff Buderer are on top of scaffolding, errected on the stage of the theater, to secure the mid-point of a parachute.

[Photo & text: sa]

An interim solution for shelter from the intense sun during this 3-day event, was worked out by Director Tomiaki Tamura.
Maintenance crew custom cut and trimmed pieces from good parts of the old tent and installed them over the stage area. Construction crew, and many volunteers from other departments, installed a very large parachute to cover the seating area.

[Photo & text: sa]

The parachute was folded in half, each cord lined up and linked with its opposite and strong rope tied to the individual cords.
With the crew distributed along the third floor of the west side of the East Crescent and along the roof of the east side, the ropes were slowly tied in tandem to have clean and even distribution over the stepped seating area.
A smaller parachute was installed over the keystone area to give shade to some of the vendors [photos on 6/18].

[Photo & text: sa]

JUNETEENTH 2008 FESTIVAL AND ARTS FAIR

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 22:37:10 GMT

The Arcosanti crew is in the midst of preparation for JUNETEENTH 2008, an annual festival of African-American Art and Music, including Jazz, Blues, Gospel, Reggae.
The festival commemorates the date that most slaves first heard about President Lincoln's 1863 declaration of freedom. It symbolizes the joy of a call to freedom, and the responsibility to assist in developing a more inclusive and equitable society.
The arts in general, and in this case specifically, African-American arts, are one of the most compelling sources for passing this message on.

[Photo & text: sa]

This event has been celebrated at Arcosanti since 2000. The images show some of the activities during JuneTeenth in years past, and the following are some of the acts that have graced the Colly Soleri Music Center during this event:
The Milt Cannon PJazz Quartet, Les Czimber Trio, Lonne Givens Blues Band, Gato Loco w/Quetzal Guerrerro , Joe Bonner Trio, Wytko Saxophone Quartet, Dave Cook Quintet, Chris Finet Quintet/NAU ...

[Photo & text: sa]

... Joshua Breakstone Trio w/Malik Alkabir, The Cunningham’s, Dr.Jill Allen Quartet, Kathy Morris, Matt Butterman, Mary Redhouse, Dick Berk, Mr. Freddy B, Big Pete Pearson, Walter Belcher, the APA Dance Company, and Henry Turner Jr. & Flavor.

This is a lovely event with delicious food, arts and crafts, good vibes and wonderful music, in an amphitheater shaded this year by a gigantic parachute.

The schedule this year starts this evening at 7pm with a Festival Kickoff Freedom Dance Party featuring Henry Turner Jr. & Flavor and Cannonfire.
Saturdays activities start at 11am with the opening of the event by Elder Douglas Hobson and the St. Luke Ebony Christian Choir, followed by performances by the Cannonfire Ensemble, Genevieve, The Cunninghams and Henry Turner and Flavor.
Sundays activities start at 11am with Milt Cannon and a tribute to Big Pete Pearson "King of Phoenix Blues". This is followed by performances of PJAZZ Quartett with Rick Jones, The Cunninghams, Lady J Huston and a Cannonfire Dance Band Finale.
Tickets are $10 per day, $5 for students.
VIP tickets are $25 per day or 2-day tickets for $40. VIP includes the Friday Freedom Dance, access to the backstage lounge, the Sunday VIP only performance with Genevieve and limited poolside service.
The festival is organized by Milt Cannon of the Prescott Jazz Society.

[Photo & text: sa]