Arizona PBS
A report was released by the Arizona State Forestry Division on the Yarnell Hill Fire, which killed 19 firefighters. Wildfire expert Jim Paxon, currently of the Arizona Game and Fish Department, will discuss the report. ASU Computer Informatics professor Subbarao Kambhampati will talk about analytical systems that can gather data generated by Twitter and analyze public opinion.
updated 10 years ago
Hear Tatiana talk about her music in the full "Playlist 48" episode here:
https://youtu.be/Ysqa-WUIIAs?feature=shared&t=163
Hear Tatiana talk about her music in the full "Playlist 48" episode here:
https://youtu.be/Ysqa-WUIIAs?feature=shared
Owner Jeff Smedstad says, "The food scene is growing here in Sedona. It's getting better every day."
View the entire ACE Beginner Series on our website: https://azpbs.org/sportsfundamentals/2023/09/ace-beginner-series/
View the entire ACE Beginner Series on our website: https://azpbs.org/sportsfundamentals/2023/09/ace-beginner-series/
View the entire ACE Beginner Series on our website: https://azpbs.org/sportsfundamentals/2023/09/ace-beginner-series/
View the entire ACE Beginner Series on our website: https://azpbs.org/sportsfundamentals/2023/09/ace-beginner-series/
View the entire ACE Beginner Series on our website: https://azpbs.org/sportsfundamentals/2023/09/ace-beginner-series/
Watch the Beginner Series here: https://azpbs.org/sportsfundamentals/2023/09/ace-beginner-series/
The band first caught recognition in 2019 after their single “Take Me Back” was picked up by radio stations throughout the Valley, and the band was even featured on Comedy Central’s series “Klepper,” hosted by Jordan Klepper. The band was touring throughout 2019, up to the start of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.
Strickland, who served in Afghanistan before becoming a registered nurse, writes songs that are largely based on his life and experiences. His time in the service contributed to the themes in his music, specifically a song called “Kandahar,” about a fellow soldier who lost his battle with PTSD.
During the pandemic, Strickland wrote a song called “A Nurse’s Story,” which is about the pandemic from a healthcare professional’s point of view. Strickland said the song went viral among healthcare workers who have been on the front lines fighting the disease now for years.
Unable to perform during the height of the pandemic, the musicians of Ponderosa Grove channeled their energies into songwriting. Of the 11 original songs on “The Debut,” 10 were written between March and December 2020.
Speaking specifically about “Changin’,” singer Candace Devine said the song grew out of a moment where she caught her own gaze in the rearview mirror and reminded herself that although the world was changing around her, she would be able to grow and change with it.
“It’s a song derived out of a pep talk and realizing there was nobody not going through this,” Devine said. “If I could shape it as something to embrace versus crumble under, then it was a lot more bearable.”
The band members spoke highly of their hometown and its love for music. “Growing up in Prescott, there’s music everywhere,” said bassist Cosimo Bohrman.
“Prescott’s very unique in that there’s a lot of places to play music and there’s a lot of support from the community,” agreed guitarist Drew Hall. “You put on a show and people will show up and they will support and they’ll be paying attention.” Though it is a smaller community, he said, it is a music city with a ton of talent.
She grew up listening to Queen, Supertramp and Phil Collins, and her love for music was fostered by her high school’s music program, which gave her opportunities to perform in various locations across the Valley.
“When I was about 11 years old, I did my first talent show and I auditioned through my choir. I did my first solo ever,” Nicolle said. “At the end, I was just like a deer in headlights. The silence at the end felt like forever, and then everyone was like, ‘Oh my god, Serena, yes!’ and I was like, ‘Wow, I can make people feel things with my singing.’”
She usually plays the acoustic guitar, ukulele and piano during her performances, and hopes to one day have a world tour.
“The best part is when people get to tell me that I made them feel something in their heart,” Nicolle says of her love for performing.
The two-piece band is made up of Jesse Teer and Quinn Scully and was recently listed on Billboard’s Next Big Sound charts.
According to the band’s website, The Senators describe their style of music as “blending sophisticated songcraft with humble pastoral sympathies, featuring poetic lyrics, uplifting harmonies and complex instrumental layers, lending to a more melodic branch of indie rock.”
The group recently recorded their sophomore album in the Catskill Mountains – an upstate New York country that folk legends like Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell call home. With musical influences all around, band member Quinn Scully recollects his love of music from his parents.
“My dad ended up running the Orpheum Theatre in Flagstaff,” Scully said. “I grew up going backstage, hanging out and watching a bunch of soundchecks for all these cool bands. And then I started playing music myself when I was about nine and I haven’t stopped since then.”
Lead singer Jesse Teer describes his music venture as a “late transition into songwriting.” He played cello as a kid, only beginning to play folk music and acoustic guitar in college.
Through performances, both artists beam at the band’s ability to come together and influence an audience through music.
“I think the goal of the night is to create this connection and at that moment, everyone is on the same page. I think performing live music is that connection at the end of the day.”
Currently, the band is in the studio self-producing their third album for release next July and plan to hit the road in the U.S. and Europe next year.
Tatiana came to our downtown Phoenix studio without her guitar and instead brought out her accordion to perform two original tracks filled with personality and swagger, “Tortero” and “Tóxico.”
Tatiana said she first saw the accordion in a local music shop in Traverse City, Michigan, where she used to live, and convinced herself she had to buy it and learn to play. After receiving her payment for her first performance, she went right to the shop and bought it.
After living in Michigan for some time, Crespo started to grow curious about the melting pot of different cultures in Phoenix. Being Hispanic and bilingual herself, she decided to move out west.
“I came out here and I was so amazed and so excited about the scene. It really is a beautiful thing and there is so much Latin music. We really are an amazing community of Hispanic players and it’s an honor to be part of that,” Crespo said.
“I liked barbecue, and I never could find good barbecue. And I thought this was a great store to do BBQ. And that's what I set off to do,” he said.
He says he also likes to give his customers a little something extra, “some sort of 'get a bag and fill it with something' and I came up with the little miniature donuts. ”
The ensemble released their debut self-titled album in 2014, “What the Birds Said” in 2016 and “Impressions” in 2018. Before the pandemic, the Mill Ave Chamber Players performed about 50 concerts a year.
Bassoonist Thomas Breadon Jr. composed both of the pieces performed in this episode, “Nocturne” and “Serene” from their third album, “Impressions.”
“The first movement was written for my mother,” Breadon Jr. said. “She gave me and my three brothers a very happy and carefree life. I wrote [Serene] about the carefree nature of the way that I grew up.”
Breadon Jr. said he wrote “Nocturne” for his grandmother at her request. He hopes listeners connect to the mood the ensemble is trying to convey through its music.
For more information on the ensemble and their music, check out their website at http://www.millavechamberplayers.com.
"I've been in pizza a long time," said co-founder Fred Morgan. "My partner and I decided, 'Hey, it's time we did our own thing,' so we came up with this concept Fried Pie."
Only six months after coming up with the concept of the restaurant, they had already opened three locations.
“As a child, I lived in a lot of countries, and I guess music was part of my refuge,” he said. “I’m from Romania, which is an interesting country when it comes to music. Past and present meet, right? You’ve got traditional music, but also we have this rebellious spirit, especially since the revolution in 1989.” Moldovan said that he was influenced by the rock and roll music of his parents’ generation, particularly guitar music. When he had an opportunity to try out an acoustic guitar, he discovered he had an affinity for the instrument, and found a mentor who helped him learn.
As he grew up, Moldovan enjoyed branching out into more styles of music, including classical, jazz and blues. “I’m a very big blues guy,” he said. “But I grew up as a rocker, that’s for sure.”
Music remained a refuge, no matter where he lived. “I remember when the first iPod got out,” Moldovan said, “it was something so fascinating for me. I started listening to Metallica and Black Eyed Peas – there were some funny combinations, but it was just me discovering music.”
Today, Moldovan is a second-year graduate student at ASU’s Thunderbird School of Global Management, where he’s the president of a group called Global Sounds, which performs and shares music from all over the world.
“Many, many years ago when I first started out playing, I was writing folk tunes, but they were kind of somber, and the folks at the open mic nights would say, man we love your tunes, but they’re downers,” Richardson said with a chuckle. “‘I Say Love’ was my first attempt at writing a song with a rapid beat to it, and it just stuck with me.”
He’s been a fixture of Tempe’s music scene since those open mic nights in the ’70s when he was a student at ASU. Over the years, he’s played in bands and as a solo artist, toured nationally and nurtured the music scene here at home, including music programs in schools, with an emphasis on cultural diversity. He became the first inductee into Mill Avenue’s Walk of Music in 2014, and on his 60th birthday, Richardson was inducted into Arizona’s Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame at Tempe Center for the Arts.
Richardson says he discovered his love of music early in life. “My brother and I used to sit down and make sounds with our mouths and get them to blend,” he said. “That started leading me down this road of how sound vibrates and how it moves, especially between two voices.”
While at first the appeal of the guitar was tied to its association with youthful rebellion, Richardson says he values its versatility. “As I’ve learned over the years, the guitar allows you to express your soul through it,” he said. “If I have this one guitar and four or five singer/songwriters, it’s going to sound different in each person’s hand. That’s what I like about how unique the instrument is in terms of allowing the creator, the songwriter to move through it.”
As you make your way past Payson, you’ll head east along the 260, and your mood, just like the scenery, dramatically changes–you’re feeling alright and starting to feel cool and breezy.
Driving further east, you might even catch a summer rainstorm on your way there as you make your way into the busy town of Show Low.
You see the landscape change again to the rolling, yellow grasslands and big skies as you approach Springerville and the Arizona–New Mexico border.
What is this magical place? It’s the serene, beautiful, cool White Mountain country of far eastern Arizona. This land of former hunter-gatherers is now a place that calls out to hiker-explorers.
We’ll take your inner explorer to the prettiest river hikes along the Thompson Trail and trek a lakeside path in a state park with breathtaking views.
View more episodes on our website here: https://azpbs.org/trailmixd/
"The piece actually originated as an assignment in one of my classes," Nguyen said. "I'm the kind of person who does best with a deadline, so I had postponed actually getting to work on the assignment until the very last minute." It was raining that night, and he was listening to the droplets outside his window while plucking at his instrument, trying not to wake his roommate or neighbors. "The whole thing is kind of a murmur, this wash of sound, so that's where the title came from," he said. "It had to do with the space and the moment that I was writing the piece in."
Nguyen is concertmaster of the MusicaNova Orchestra, a professional ensemble that features new music, neglected pieces and fresh interpretations of the classics. He also works with Harmony Project Phoenix and the Easy Valley Youth Symphony in addition to teaching privately. He was one of four winners of the 2019-2020 ASU Concerto Competition and regularly serves as concertmaster for the ASU Symphony.
Although Nguyen plays solo in this episode, he spoke about the joys of playing with an ensemble. "There's something really special about playing with other musicians," he said. "There's just a way that you breathe and you resonate that allows for a lot of nuance and subtlety."
Before moving to Arizona, Nguyen performed with the Symphony of Southeast Texas as assistant principal second violin and was a substitute with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra in New Orleans, as well as teaching privately in the Houston area.
Nguyen is currently working on his doctorate in musical arts at Arizona State University under the guidance of Dr. Jonathan Swartz. He earned his bachelor’s degree in violin performance at Rice University with Kenneth Goldsmith.
If you only have time to visit one place in northern Arizona, then The Arboretum at Flagstaff is the place to go to appreciate what the city is all about. Here you can walk the trails and visit the gardens and the greenhouses, but even walking for a year, you may not see everything the Arboretum offers.
In central Arizona, cool down walking riverside under shady cottonwoods and through a plush landscape.
Just a tad north of Phoenix, explore Dead Horse Ranch State Park in Cottonwood, Arizona, and do not let the name deter you. It is a beautiful hidden gem next to the Verde River, whose waters make it an amazing place to escape the heat.
Let's also journey to a familiar sight to some Arizonans: a house that looks like it came right out of a J.R.R. Tolkien novel! And get some hiking-in-the-heat tips to stay safe.
Come with us to explore all of that and more!
Watch more episodes of Trail Mix'd here: https://azpbs.org/trailmixd/
Owner John Stidham said the restaurant reflects his California roots. "There's no such thing as having a bad day on the beach, so I brought the beach to Phoenix,” he said.
Stidham had moved to the Valley to retire, but saw a vacant restaurant and went right back into business. The restaurant is open for breakfast and lunch, and Stidham recommends trying the caprese omelette or one of his daily specials.
All four members grew up in the Phoenix area and were all involved in the local punk rock scene in the early 2000s. "I was playing in a band," said singer/guitarist Chris Wagner, "Ryan was playing in another band, Johnny was playing in another band, and we all just kind of met each other through playing shows."
When the other bands went their own ways, Chris and guitarist Ryan Mott knew that they wanted to be in a band together.
"These guys are some of my closest friends," Mott said. "Playing music with them in a live setting just gets me really excited and fired up – it's just a joy."
"It's very comfortable to play with these guys," agreed guitarist Jeff Tretta. "You just kind of let loose when you get on stage."
Flagstaff has an amazing urban trail system made for trail hounds, with the Grand Canyon in its backyard.
The city is a progressive, vibrant, youthful town thriving in its 7,000 feet of elevation and is made for those who love to use the outdoors as their playground.
With four beautiful seasons to enjoy, people have been escaping from the Valley heat to Flagstaff for decades. Views of this small city come from angles; below, above and everything in between shows off the flourishing mountain range.
Come with us to this beautiful city right in the heart of ponderosa pines as we venture on an urban trail, search for hundreds of petroglyphs in the stunning Chevelon Canyon and chase after waterfalls.
Watch more episodes of Trail Mix'd: https://azpbs.org/trailmixd/
"We serve breakfast classics," said owner Matt Pool. "We don't have this big, long, fancy menu."
With an equal focus on their ingredients and their menu, Matt's Big Breakfast delivers a warm and friendly environment with old-fashioned hospitality.
According to the band's website, the group isn't looking to reinvent the wheel: "Instead, they’re piling into a vehicle that’s existed for decades, souping up the engine to suit their contemporary needs and steering those wheels toward their own rock & roll horizon."
The band formed in Tempe, inspired by local heroes like the Gin Blossoms and Roger Clyne & the Peacemakers, but their musical roots started early. Perhaps from birth: Singer and lead guitarist Josh Kennedy said the story told in his family is that his mother went into labor during one of his dad's gigs. "It was a house of music and love and awesomeness," he said.
Music was also a family affair for bassist Jordan Hoffman, who grew up singing in church choirs and learning guitar from his dad. "We had a family band called Infinity," he said with a chuckle. The love of music started when he when he was very young, he said. "And I clung on. I never let go."
Percussionist Chico Diaz was inspired by a drummer in a school talent show - something Hoffman hopes The Black Moods do for their listeners.
"When we play live, I want people to walk away feeling inspired," Hoffman said. "Hopefully we can do that to some kid – or an adult! Inspire them to play and create music."
All three agree that performing together feels comfortable, as though everything else melts away. "I'm with my brothers," Diaz said, gesturing to his bandmates.
From miles away, you can see the gorgeous lush green of Picacho Peak, and coming a little closer to the park, you can see the beautiful golden orange of the Mexican poppies on the mountain as they glow in the sunlight.
Walking the trails of Picacho Peak State Park, you will get great vantage points of the marvelous blooms wherever you are; you don’t have to walk long to see these views.
Just south of Tucson, tucked away in rolling hills, is the lakeside retreat of Patagonia Lake State Park. Whether searching for serenity or taking a fishing trip, visitors enjoy this wondrous park. And you can’t forget about the animals! There are dozens of species of birds, javelinas and other little critters, so for all of you animal lovers out there, this is the place for you.
One of the greenest deserts you’ll ever see is Catalina State Park. With more than 5,000 acres to explore, you can hike rugged or smooth trails with views of saguaros all around, and you might even see horseback riders taking advantage of the trails.
Come with us to explore southern Arizona!
Visit our website to enjoy more episodes of Trail Mix'd: https://azpbs.org/trailmixd/