Namoli Brennet
An early January afternoon at Epic Café is accompanied by Namoli Brennet, iced tea and chicken salad with way too many sprouts cushioning vegetables awaiting their fate betwixt slices of thick wheat bread.
The carnage gets stowed away in a take-out box as a project for the near future: full focus becomes concentrated on Brennet’s soft-spoken dialogue.
A small, slight stature houses a deep soul that churns with life’s complexities.
Brennet’s first solo album, “Boy in a Dress,” explores the issues of struggling with one’s born gender.
The attractive, feminine woman who is biologically male appreciates the open-minded community that gives her the freedom to use her artistic license.
She said that “Boy in a Dress” probably wouldn’t have been written had she been living in Connecticut because of the difference in attitudes between the east and west.
Damn good thing she lives here.
Last year saw that release awarded by the GLTB (Gay, Lesbian, Transgender and Bisexual) syndicated radio show “Audiophile.” She also put out her second album “Welcome to the Afterglow,” and had “the most prolific year of my life.”
Holding degrees in music composition and jazz piano, the musician recorded the tracks of both albums in her Iron Horse neighborhood home.
Acknowledging her abode is “not an ideal recording situation – living behind Tucson High,” having trained ears and good ideas along with “crappy microphones,” Brennet pulled it off.
Anticipating being criticized for the recording’s quality, she took her project to Wavelab’s internationally known Craig Schumacher to master.
Among what she thought might be some recording faux pas on “Boy in a Dress,” Namoli intoned that she “expected him to be like ‘Ahh! The EQ is all wrong on the vocals!’”
Schumacher did no such thing and also mastered “Welcome to the Afterglow.”
Brennet will be touring the east coast in the spring to coincide with her invite to play the Northeast Regional Pride Conference.
Look for her playing a mix of country, folk and soul (among other styles) at downtown coffee shops, singing with the Desert Divas or online at www.NamoliBrennet.com. Her CDs are available on the website, ITLl, Antigone Books, and Hears Music.
KXCI
The non-profit community radio station showered the Pueblo with a few delights: the Locals Only! compilation “Live From Studio 2A Vol. II,” a collection of national acts are featured on “Live From Studio 2A Vol.III,” and the self-titled “2002 Tucson Folk Festival.”
Their fourth release was “Best of Growing Native Vol. II,” a disc of shorts by Petey Mesquitey. He educates us on desert botany with Bob Ross cool and has the linguistic energy of Shel Silverstein and Dr. Suess.
This month sees the second compendium of live recordings from the Locals Only! show. Title? You guessed it kids – “Live From Studio 2A Vol. IV.” The disc has performances from Ozlo, Nick Luca Trio, The Bunko Squad, Andy Hersey, The Klezmopolitans, Last Call Brawlers, Namoli Brennet, Loveland, Roth D’Lux, Sunday Afternoon, Gabrielle Pietrangelo, Howe Gelb, Sun Zoom Spark, The DeLudes, Al Foul, and Cathy Rivers. Look for the CD release party on Friday, February 13 at Plush, 340 E. 6th St.
Leila Lopez
This native Tucsonan singer-songwriter plays six instruments, (guitar, drums, bass, cello, flute, keyboards) and writes lyrics with the poignancy of Dylan. They accompany a smooth, sweet, clear voice that has the jazzy, R & B style of Sade, with attitude. My roommate described her as a mellow Ani DiFranco.
On the back patio of ITL Café, green-eyed Lopez said she holed herself up last summer in her basically one room home to record her album “All Songs.”
As a Waldorf teacher with summers off, the time was perfect for the musician to lay down her tracks.
The project started last June and was finished in October.
Using her four-track, Lopez said she “kept going back and redoing things.
“I had an opportunity to use better equipment, but I wanted to do it myself.”
She was so DIY (Do It Yourself) that there are only four tracks on the 11-song recording with contributing musicians; Chad Bush plays saxophone on “Imagine That,” Wendy Kramer plays clarinet on “Moving Up” and “Circle of Time,” and Betsy Rettig bows cello strings on “To Have and To Hold.”
Yep, the artist plays the rest of the instruments and her arrangements flow seamlessly – saturating the soul with goodness the way properly poured maple syrup insinuates itself into the squares of a waffle.
Leila is also playing with Clown Band, The Plastinauts and Omelet. She plans to do solo gigs at 4th Avenue coffee shops. Keep an eye out for this one!
Ted Ramirez and the Santa Cruz River Band
“I love music,” silver-haired Ted Ramirez said in the Hotel Congress lobby one Saturday morning.
“I love songs. I love to write and to write songs that are fun to listen to.”
These sentiments come through on “Hard Road Traveling,” an album he and his band released last November, with contributions from Michael and Bobby Ronstadt.
The yearlong recording process was “very casual” and was completed at two different studios.
The disc is a collection of American and Mexican folk songs that are both covers and originals. The first track is a lovely rendition of Woody Guthrie’s “Way Over Yonder in the Minor Key,” a song initially brought to life in 1998 by Wilco and Billy Bragg.
His style of music reflects a childhood enriched by living in a Tucson locale that teemed with musicians.
“A black gentleman played a Silvertone guitar and would sit in the carport under a bare light bulb and play the blues and I would watch him in the dark. One night, he finally said, ‘Why don’t you come over here?’
“There was also a Mexican band with an accordion and a stand up bass,” with many other musicians peppering the neighborhood.
As a child, Ramirez “hated taking naps so I tied pieces of string to a door knob and that was my first guitar – I would make sounds with it.”
Ramirez plans to expand to Albuquerque to play festivals, as well as “produce and promote our own local concerts.”
“Folk is a kind of the generic way to describe” the genre of music he plans to showcase this year on a monthly basis at the Historic Stone Avenue Temple, 564 S. Stone Ave.
“Hard Road Traveling” is available at concerts, Border’s at Park Place Mall, via phone by calling 981-2240 and online at www.SantaCruzRiverBand.com.
Silverbus
Three years ago, drummer Paul Nosa needed a place to live.
Originally, he wanted a box moving truck to not only serve as his abode, but as a mobile venue.
Nosa ended up settling on a school bus he purchased at a TUSD auction.
“It was $1,000, but it needed a lot of work,” Nosa said.
He has since put $15,000 into the bus that also features solar panels and a rain collector.
With the addition of solar panels, Nosa is able to use conventional electric amps whereas before he used crate battery-powered amps.
“So, we are looking forward to the next few months because we are going to be louder, sound better and with an album we will be familiar with our songs,” he explained.
Silverbus came on the scene a few years back, improvising their jams on temperate Friday nights – parked somewhere along 4th Avenue were there was a crowd of people.
The album, “Tonight,” was recorded on those nights with a laptop.
Nosa had seven mini discs worth of music from which to cull material. He compiled 21 songs on an 80-minute long disc while in Phoenix for 10 months. Nosa said simply “there was nothing better to do” in the Arizonan LA.
Complete with instrumentation, PAs and amps – saved up from money he earned working as a substitute teacher for over six years - the bus also serves as his home.
Yes, the musician does shower. Holding degrees in creative writing, sculpture and French, Nosa has the wherewithal to live and think outside of the box.
They will be playing in upcoming months on 4th Avenue, “close to Che’s or ITL,” and you can find them online at www.Silverbus.50megs.com where the album is also available.
Sun Zoom Spark & Black Sun Ensemble
On a pleasant Sunday afternoon on an Armory Park front porch, multi-instrumentalist Eric Johnson described the latest release from SZS “Transmissions from Satellites Volume One” as an “instrumental soundtrack project.
“When we were recording the bass (Steve Goetz) and drums (Johnson), we had no idea what we were going to put on it, we were just playing. We recorded a couple hours during different sessions. We both edited the tracks the way we (individually) wanted to and overdubbed the way we wanted to.
“Volume One is my version and Volume Two will be Steven’s.”
John Axtell of Cranky Jesus Studio, of whom Johnson says, “is awesome and does great work”, mastered the tracks. “To enjoy this project, you have to listen differently. It’s great background music,” he said. “Put it on and do the dishes!”
TFS Vol. 1 is available at CD City (2890 N. Campbell Ave.) and online at www.SlowBurnRecords.net.
In 1999, Johnson became involved with the well-known Tucson band Black Sun Ensemble when BSE’s leader and guitarist Jesus Acedo approached SZS.
The collaboration has spawned two releases in the duration, seeing the second album “Starlight” come out last year.
Black Sun Ensemble has received critical acclaim from national magazines such as Spin, Rolling Stone, Guitar Player, CMJ and jumped the pond with a mention in the London Sunday Times. That publication described their music as a mix of “electric and acoustic guitar ragas over eastern progressions…Acedo sounds like John McLaughlin on acid.”
They played the annual music industry conference South By Southwest in 2002 and are playing this spring’s festival as well.
“Starlight” is available locally at CD City, all over the web and through the band’s label at www.CameraObscura.com.
Et Al
Singer, songwriter and musician Join Coinman signed with European label CoraZong Records in 2003 and also released a compilation titled “This Place Ain’t What It Used To Be,” an album that ranked 15th on the EuroAmericana Chart. Past endeavors include film work, with credits such as the Music Supervisor for Academy Award Winner “Dances With Wolves” and songs in movies “Slumber Party Massacre II,” “The Postman,” and “Clay Pigeons,” among others.
The Rich Hopkins’ label, San Jacinto, turned 15. The Great Cover-Up benefit show expanded to three nights. Troy’s Bucket won the 7 Black Cats band battle, Dusti Spoon won the Road to Somewhere competition. Lisa Otey and Kathleen Williamson collectively won 6 Tucson Area Music Awards in 2003 and their label, Owl’s Nest Records, saw its tenth year.
Hats off to all the releases and for those who toured with them.
As Eric Johnson said, “Recording is a way out of town. You can move to the next level.”
Just look at Calexico and the numerous other bands who tour nationally and internationally.
Do you ever wonder what brings them back?
I don’t.
2004 TUCSON GEM, MINERAL & FOSSIL SHOWCASE DATES DOWNTOWN
Dates & details subject to change
RAPA RIVER
JANUARY 30-FEBRUARY 15, 2004
292 S. FREEWAY AVE. S. FREEWAY AVE. BETWEEN CONGRESS ST & STARR PASS BLVD.
www.rapariver.com. Open 8:00 am-6:00 pm. Both wholesale and retail. Wholesalers require business license and/or tax I.D. number. Rapa River dealers offer a wide variety of many unique and unusual products from all parts of various countries. $5.00 for public to park. Can catch shuttle from there.
GLOBE – X GEM, MINERAL, FOSSIL & JEWELRY SHOW
JANUARY 30-FEBRUARY 15, 2004
DAYS INN, 222 SOUTH FREEWAY.
www.daysinntucson.com. Open for wholesale and retail. Open daily 9:00am.-7:00pm. Dealer’s rooms open at their discretion. 200 dealers of gems, minerals, fossils. Mostly direct-import merchandise from around the world, including gem stones, decorator minerals, polished minerals, rough minerals, beads, opals, fossils, amber, crystals, Arizona minerals, septarians, and carvings.
TUCSON SHOWPLACE
JANUARY 30-FEBRUARY 15, 2004
1530 S. FREEWAY.
www.daysinntucson.com. Wholesale only. Premier permanent gem show showrooms with dealers from the US and other countries. Wide variety of crystals, minerals, gems, fossils, spheres, gifts, displays and supplies. Many one of a kind products, large specimens and thousands to choose from.
V-ROCK SHOP WAREHOUSE SHOW
JANUARY 30 – FEBRUARY 15, 2004
933 North Main Ave. (Just south of traffic light at Speedway and N. Main Ave. next to daycare center)
www.vrock.com . Open 9:00 am-6:00 pm. Open to wholesale and retail registered visitors. Business license, tax I.D. required. Dealers Include V-ROCK SHOP from Ohio and from Arizona, Quest Crystals from Ohio, Just Another Kind of World from California. Wide range of products from Brazilian amethyst and agate products, to freshwater pearls, to holistic Items, and much more. Ample parking.
AFRICAN ART VILLAGE
JANUARY 30-FEBRUARY 15, 2004
22nd Street and S. Freeway Ave. (behind Waffle House).
Open to the public. Wholesale and Retail. Open daily from 7:30am until 7:30pm. Featuring over 75 African exhibitors, showcasing a variety of authentic African artifacts from different countries and tribes throughout Africa.
ATRIUM PRODUCTIONS GEM-MINERAL-JEWELRY-FOSSIL SHOW
JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 12, 2004
PUEBLO INN (FORMERLY FOUR POINTS HOTEL BY SHERATON) 350 S. Freeway.
Wholesale only. Open daily 10:00am-7:00pm. Open to the public February 10-12th. An eclectic show featuring more than 200 U.S. and international wholesale exhibitors. Showcases a collection of colored gemstones in cut, rough and loose form; one of a kind pieces; designer jewelry; high karat gold; minerals, rare, carved, rough, collector specimens; quartz and amethyst crystals and more.
AKS GEM SHOWS/PACIFICA TRADE SHOWS
JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 14, 2004
HOWARD JOHNSON INN, 1010 S. Freeway (I-10 at Starr Pass Blvd.)
www.aksshow.com. Wholesale only. Featuring over 200 exhibitors of diamonds, colored stones, gold, silver, mountings, supplies, fashion jewelry, crystals, minerals, fossils and beads. LA QUINTA INN (FORMERLYHOLIDAY INN EXPRESS), 750 W. Starr Pass Blvd. (I-10 at Starr Pass Blvd.) Wholesale and open to the public. More than 100 dealers of minerals, fossils, gemstones, rough jewelry and metaphysical merchandise on second floor.
Both shows open daily 10:00am-7:00pm.
RAMADA INN GROUP
JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 14, 2004
(formerly LA QUINTA GROUP) RAMADA LIMITED TUCSON WEST, 665 N. FREEWAY AVE. N. FREEWAY AVE & ST. MARY’S RD.
Both wholesale and retail. Open at dealers’ discretion. Over 30 dealers of gems, beads, jewelry, artifacts and some minerals. Some archeological type artifacts.
INTERGEM’S GEM SHOW
JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 15, 2004
INTERNATIONAL GEMS, BEADS & JEWELRY SHOW
www.intergem.net East of I-10 along frontage road & Simpson, near the Tucson Convention Center. Wholesale and retail. Business card and tax I.D. number required for wholesalers. Open daily 10:00am-6:00 pm. Gems, beads & jewelry bazaar. Excellent values in beads, gems, rocks, minerals, collectibles from around the world, and crystals. Free parking.
FINE MINERALS INTERNATIONAL GEM AND MINERAL FORUM
FEBRUARY 1-FEBRUARY 15, 2004
450 N. GRANADA AVE (adjacent to InnSuites Hotel) between St. Mary’s Rd. and Franklin St. Open to the public. 10:00 am-6:00 pm. Wholesale and retail. Dealers include Fine Minerals International, Detrin Fine Minerals, Pederneria Gem Group, Marcus Fudil Minerals, Heliodor-Star & Brad van Scriver, Jeff Scovil Photography, and Markus Walter Mineral Preparation Laboratory. Offering the finest minerals and gems from all over the globe, including new material from China, Russia and Brazil.
AMERICAN GEM TRADE ASSOCIATION
FEBRUARY 4-9, 2004
2004 AGTA GEMFAIR TUCSON
www.agta.org. TUCSON CONVENTION CENTER. Open daily 10:00am-6:00pm. Closes at 4:00pm February 9th. Wholesale only. Photo ID, business card, business license and tax ID number required. AGTA’s GemFair Tucson is the world’s premier tradeshow for color. Featuring over 200 suppliers of gemstones, cultured pearls and diamonds. Manufacturers and Silversmiths of America Pavilion, American Designer Jewelers section with designer gem-set jewelry, and mineral and gemstone objects from Gifts of the Earth lapidary artists.
GEM & JEWELRY SHOW
FEBRUARY4-9, 2004
G.L.D.A., INC/GEM & LAPIDARY DEALERS ASSOCIATION
www.glda.com. RADISSON CITY CENTER (FORMERLY HOLIDAY INN CITY CENTER). Wholesale only. Open daily 10:00am-6:00pm. Over 350 companies from the United States and 22 foreign countries provide an incredible selection of gems, fine jewelry, diamonds, pearls, antique jewelry, silver jewelry, sculpture, beads and carvings. Closes at 4:00 pm on February 9th.
GJX - GEM & JEWELRY EXCHANGE
FEBRUARY 5-10, 2004
www.gjxusa.com. CONGRESS & GRANADA (Pavilion), 198 S. Granada, across from the Tucson Convention Center. Wholesale only. Open daily 10:00am-6:00pm. Closes at 4 pm February 10th. Featuring over 350 U.S. and international exhibitors of diamonds, colored gemstones, pearls, cameos, jewelry, and gem carvings.
THE MANNING HOUSE SHOW
FEBRUARY 5 – 10, 2004
MANNING HOUSE MANSION, 450 W. PASEO REDONDO
2 Blocks Northwest of Congress and Granada. Ample public parking available. www.ManningHouseShow.com. Open Daily 10 A.M. to 6 P.M. Closes at 4 P.M. Feb. 10. Open to the public and wholesale. Pre-registration recommended. Gem Art, Jewelry, Fine Minerals, and Fine Gem Show. Set in an elegant, convenient downtown location. Gourmet lunch and drinks served daily.
50TH ANNUAL TUCSON GEM & MINERAL SHOW
FEBRUARY 12-15, 2004
TUCSON CONVENTION CENTER.
www.tgms.org. Retail and public exhibits. $5.50 admission. Open daily 10:00am-6:00pm. Closes at 5 pm February 15th. The 2004 show theme highlights Gold. Visit mineral jewelry, gem, fossil, beads, lapidary creations, geodes, meteorites, and mineral and jewelry publications dealers from around the world. Explore the world of minerals. Kids will be fascinated by the Earth Sciences maze of hands-on displays.
ndertaking the task of procuring and cataloguing local albums that came out over roughly the last year has been a fun if somewhat overwhelming challenge. 
