Flam Chen in Mesa and Tucson

This past weekend saw a visit into Tucson. I wanted to get to know the city a bit—I really haven't seen the majority of cities out here in Arizona, and this was one in particular I wanted to see. But the added bonus was that Flam Chen was doing two shows in the area—first in Mesa on Friday, and then again in Tucson on Saturday. It was good to see some familiar faces I hadn't seen since July 21st.

Of course, I came back with pictures.

First, from their performance in Mesa at the Mesa Arts Center.

















Ruben spinning Poi with flares on stilts.











Then, Saturday show in the evening on "Bat Night"—a celebratory evening where Tucson residents watch 40,000 bats fly out from under the Cambridge Avenue Bridge. Sponsored by the Rillito River project, the night was organized to raise awareness about water usage. Flam Chen flew balloons at the different heights where the water table had receded from in depth over the course of 200 years of develop. The first balloon was flown at 25ft, where the water table used to exist naturally in Pima county. The last balloon, reflecting the modern day situation, flew at almost 200ft high.

Before the balloons are lifted to their appropriate "depths".



The Shadow Walkers freak out the crowd.













Balloons start to get raised.





The bats come out, and fly through the balloons.





Both these events were probably benefit concerts, so Flam Chen did them for free, essentially (at least as I understand it). For these ones they were mostly working on a skeleton crew. But even with that, and especially on Friday, they put on a good show.

Awesome Restaurant in Phoenix

I'll explain more about how and why I ended up in Phoenix this past Friday—it was to promote the Earthdance festival (which I'll describe in a future blog post, I promise). The shameful thing lately is that I have not been able to post many pictures due to having lost my camera charger. Of course, I found it in my suitcase last week, so this Friday night I took it with me and had the joy of actually being able to do some photography.

So get ready for a picture post! The dinner that night was at the District in the Phoenix Sheraton. A friend of someone in our group to promote the festival worked there, so we got a bit of a nice in. The food was fantastic (I felt disgusting, having a giant cheeseburger with a bunch of Italians that really hadn't been outside of Arcosanti yet, but I needed it all the same and didn't regret it), but the decor was even better. Here are the photos from the night. I'll have to post-process them later.







All the glasses cases had some special lighting, which I particularly enjoyed.







A few shots of the huge lights that hung inside the hotel before one of the hotel staff pulled me over.

Photos from the Phoenix Library & Art Museum

From one of the fieldtrips the workshop took into Phoenix:





In the Phoenix Library—calling it a Library is almost an understatement. It's one of the coolest structures I've been in. It happened to be designed by one of Soleri's apprentices.





Some more lighthearted photos of Soleri's large sculpture in the Phoenix Art Museum. It is called Il Duomo, or something like that—if somebody knows the correct title please correct me, I think "Duomo" actually means "cathedral".

Picture Time #4 - Nature Hike

Roger, who has been with Arcosanti since "the beginning" as he describes it, has an absolute wealth of knowledge about the geography, nature, and prehistory of the area around Arcosanti, aside from having an encyclopediac knowledge of other topics too. He treated us to an extended hike around the mesas surrounding the site.



Stephan and his camera.



Roger explaining the Agua Fria river valley, just beyond the ledge.




Cottonwood trees. These are really interesting—they're essentially cotton plants in tree form. It's quite amazing—with a gust of wind cotton pieces will float through the hot landscape like snowflakes.



The Mesa (it's breathtaking in person).



I like this particular shot—an old chevy that was at an abandonned ranch at the bottom of the hill.




Roger on top of the Mesa.




Arizona thistle.



In the middle of an ancient Native American pueblo.



After a hike that just about lasted the whole day, the long trek across the top of the Mesa, covered in grass. Off in the distance, Arcosanti (you can always tell by the freestanding Cyprus trees). The area is a true wilderness.