Post by the Scribe on Oct 15, 2021 8:56:42 GMT
Band reunions, festival proposals, community spirit: 10 music stories that brightened 2020
www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/music/2020/12/30/arizona-music-stories-2020/4049889001/
Ed Masley
Arizona Republic
view gallery: www.azcentral.com/picture-gallery/entertainment/music/2020/04/21/famous-people-arizona-music-musicians-alice-cooper-stevie-nicks/867792002/
Well, you can't say it wasn't a memorable year. But as we set our sights on 2021 with a healthy dose of guarded optimism, it's worth noting that not all the news that crossed our desk was bad in 2020.
There were plenty of stories of people putting their best selves forward, whether helping other people make it through a hard time or just doing something cool enough to take the focus off the bad news.
Here's a look back at some Arizona music stories that managed to brighten our days at least a little.
How the arts scene helped 2 kids start over after their mom died
It was 2017 when the Trunk Space, a nonprofit avant-garde arts venue housed in Grace Lutheran Church on North Third Street in Phoenix, started letting two young homeless brothers into shows for free.
They were 10 and 11 at the time and staying nearby with their mother. After a while, they became part of the Trunk Space community.
When Steph Carrico, who cofounded the space in 2004, heard the news that the boys' mother had died, she started a fundraiser in hopes of collecting $500 for them.
By the time it was done, Carrico's GoFundMe had raised $6,587, allowing the boys and the cousin who'd taken them in to get established in a new apartment.
"It's just really cool to see a community gather around to help out people who legitimately need that help immediately," Robbie Pfeffer of Phoenix band Playboy Manbaby said. "It's like wow, one thing that isn't awful news."
How downtown Phoenix saved the Lost Leaf
www.azcentral.com/picture-gallery/entertainment/music/2020/04/23/inside-downtown-phoenix-music-venue-lost-leaf-closed-due-covid-19/5157097002/
It wasn't long after closing the doors of the Lost Leaf that Eric and Lauren Dahl reluctantly established a GoFundMe page to save their 1920s bungalow turned art bar off Roosevelt Row.
"We thought 'Do we really want to ask for help?" Lauren Dahl recalled. "Or should we just kind of see what happens?' And the reality is, we won't be able to reopen unless we get some sort of funding."
Within two weeks, the fundraiser amassed almost $16,000.
"It brought tears to my eyes to see that we've actually raised as much money as we have," Lauren Dahl said at the time. "I mean, we have a ways to go. But I am optimistic. We're the longest-running music venue that's been going on downtown in that area. So we have to make it."
www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/music/2020/04/23/downtown-phoenix-save-lost-leaf-art-bar-music-venue-coronavirus/5142901002/
The Lost Leaf GoFundMe eventually raised more than $26,000.
Chester Bennington's Phoenix days revisited on charting album
Grey Daze
As the third anniversary of Chester Bennington's death approached, recordings he made with Phoenix band Grey Daze got a second lease on life. His former bandmate released "Amends," an album built on vocals Bennington tracked between the ages of 18 and 21.
"He had raw talent from day one," drummer Sean Dowdell said of his first impression of Bennington. "He could yell, he could scream and he could do it all in key. He was 15, so it wasn't super honed. But we were all young kids. He just had something in his voice that I thought was incredible."
That voice took Bennington to multiplatinum success with Linkin Park and led Stone Temple Pilots to recruit him to replace the late Scott Weiland. "Amends" became Grey Daze's first charting album.
Phoenix blues community's support overwhelms Rhythm Room owner
Bob Corritore doesn't like asking for help. But the Rhythm Room hadn't been able to make any money since closing its doors in March. And with the state demanding that he catch up on his past due sales tax, the club owner realized he was running out of options.
So on Saturday, Dec. 12, he launched a fundraising campaign with a goal of $15,000 to help the Rhythm Room catch up on all the unpaid bills that had been stacking up.
Within two days, the GoFundMe had already generated $30,000, leaving Corritore a bit overwhelmed by the outpouring of support.
"I'm going, 'Oh my god! How does this happen?!,'" he said. "It's just incredibly gratifying that the show of support and love has been so great."
www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/music/2020/12/15/phoenix-blues-club-rhythm-room-gofundme/6543984002/
Bills were piling up for a rocker with a rare disease. So musicians stepped in
Ryan Butler is battling Wilson's disease, a rare genetic disorder that required him to undergo a liver transplant. Now his friends on the music scene are staging a virtual benefit to help him through it.
Ryan Butler was 19 and playing in two touring bands on the heavier end of the musical spectrum when he lost his mother to Wilson's disease, a genetic disorder in which excess copper builds up in the body and eats through the liver.
He had just turned 43, the age at which his mother died, when a doctor confirmed that Butler too had contracted a disease so rare a liver doctor told him he would more than likely be the only Wilson's patient the doctor's staff would ever see.
The local rocker had a liver transplant in October.
A month later, his friends in the music community, from Jim Adkins of Jimmy Eat World to Exhumed and Papa M, staged a virtual benefit concert they called Butler Fest to help him cover medical expenses.
"It's just pretty amazing that they're coming together just to help me out," Butler told The Republic. "It really feels special."
www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/music/2020/11/17/phoenix-musician-rare-genetic-liver-disorder-healthcare/6273638002/
Arizona icon Linda Ronstadt saluted with multiple honors
view full gallery: www.azcentral.com/picture-gallery/entertainment/movies/2019/09/11/photos-linda-ronstadt-sound-my-voice/2272723001/
Tucson native Linda Ronstadt was saluted with multiple honors in 2020.
The 33rd annual Hispanic Heritage Awards presented the Legend Award to Ronstadt as part of a seven-minute tribute to the singer's life in music that featured the Mavericks backing a stunning assortment of Latina vocalists, including former Valley resident Carla Morrison.
www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/music/2020/09/21/linda-ronstadt-receive-hispanic-heritage-foundations-legend-award/5853860002/
And "Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice," a documentary from Oscar-winning Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, earned a Grammy nomination for Best Music Film.
www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/music/2020/11/24/arizona-grammy-awards-linda-ronstadt/6412371002/
That award would go to the directors, not the subject of the documentary, but if it gets people checking out that life-affirming celebration of her artistry, then it's a win for Ronstadt either way.
Later in the year, the Recording Academy announced that two career-defining Ronstadt albums were added to the Grammy Hall of Fame — a 1986 collaboration with Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris called "Trio" and the following year's "Canciones de Mi Padre," her first album of traditional Mexican mariachi music.
The Format play surprise reunion show in downtown Phoenix
The Format
Fans who showed up to a viewing party for the Format concert film "Live at the Mayan" at Hello Merch's downtown Phoenix warehouse in February were in for a surprise: a full unplugged reunion concert in place of the screening they were promised.
www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/music/2020/02/03/the-format-reunion-phoenix-live-at-the-mayan-concert-album-film/4650713002/
Kelsee Becker, a fan who attended the event, said there were even shirts for sale that read, "I went to the 'Live at the Mayan' party & all I got was a lousy the Format reunion show."
Nate Ruess and Sam Means announced that their band, the Format, was going on hiatus on Feb. 4, 2008. Not quite 12 years later, that hiatus ended with a lowkey cause for celebration.
Ruess, of course, went on to multi-platinum, Grammy-winning fame and fortune as the voice of fun. But as he told the fans at Hello Merch, he looks back on the Format as "the best time I ever had."
Alice Cooper announces a new Teen Center in Mesa
view gallery: www.azcentral.com/picture-gallery/entertainment/music/2019/04/25/kids-create-alice-coopers-rock-teen-center/3581081002/
Alice Cooper's Solid Rock Teen Center is expanding into Mesa through a partnership with Mesa Public Schools.
www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/music/2020/01/23/alice-cooper-solid-rock-teen-center-coming-to-mesa-summer-2020/4543267002/
It will be housed in a former elementary school at 122 N. Country Club Drive.
Cooper's nonprofit will fund the renovations for the new center, which will provide music, arts and dance programming to youth ages 12 to 20.
The original teen center opened in 2012 on the southeastern corner of Thunderbird Road and 32nd Street in Phoenix, built in partnership with Genesis Church and Cooper's Solid Rock after more than a decade of fundraising.
Additional funding comes from grants and donations by people and organizations who appreciate what the legendary rocker, his wife, Sheryl Cooper, and their nonprofit organization have done for teens in the Valley.
The 'perfect' proposal during a Dave Matthews concert at Innings Fest
gallery: www.azcentral.com/picture-gallery/entertainment/music/2020/03/01/innings-festival-2020-dave-matthews-band/4895858002/
All Erika Grijalva ever wanted was for someone to love her the way Dave Matthews sings about loving his wife in "Crush."
Grijalva found that person seven years ago when she and Jeri Meireis started dating.
Things came full circle during Innings Festival at Tempe Beach Park.As Matthews was leading his bandmates in "Crush," Meireis proposed.
www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/music/2020/03/03/story-behind-arizona-couples-dave-matthews-band-concert-engagement/4942829002/
"I had no clue," Grijalva says. "My girlfriend and I — well, my fiance — we'd been doing a staycation and planned on going to the concert for our anniversary ..."
Scottsdale singer gets engaged at 'American Idol' audition
Scottsdale's Jordan Jones proposes to Leaira Gavern at his "American Idol" audition.
There are many ways an "American Idol" audition can change the course of a performer's life.
Jordan Jones ended his tryout on a higher note than most. He asked to bring on stage Leaira Gavern, a woman he described as "probably the greatest person that's ever been made. Then he got down on one knee and proposed as judges Katy Perry, Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan looked on in amazement.
As Jones told The Republic, "I was going for four yeses and I got 'em all." The audition was taped in November 2019. By the time it aired on March 1, Jones and Gavern had already tied the knot.
www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/music/2020/03/28/jordan-jones-american-idol-arizona-singer-who-got-engaged/2930736001/
Reach the reporter at ed.masley@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-4495. Follow him on Twitter @edmasley.
ed.masley@arizonarepublic.com
Support local journalism. Subscribe to azcentral.com today.
www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/music/2020/12/30/arizona-music-stories-2020/4049889001/
Ed Masley
Arizona Republic
view gallery: www.azcentral.com/picture-gallery/entertainment/music/2020/04/21/famous-people-arizona-music-musicians-alice-cooper-stevie-nicks/867792002/
Well, you can't say it wasn't a memorable year. But as we set our sights on 2021 with a healthy dose of guarded optimism, it's worth noting that not all the news that crossed our desk was bad in 2020.
There were plenty of stories of people putting their best selves forward, whether helping other people make it through a hard time or just doing something cool enough to take the focus off the bad news.
Here's a look back at some Arizona music stories that managed to brighten our days at least a little.
How the arts scene helped 2 kids start over after their mom died
It was 2017 when the Trunk Space, a nonprofit avant-garde arts venue housed in Grace Lutheran Church on North Third Street in Phoenix, started letting two young homeless brothers into shows for free.
They were 10 and 11 at the time and staying nearby with their mother. After a while, they became part of the Trunk Space community.
When Steph Carrico, who cofounded the space in 2004, heard the news that the boys' mother had died, she started a fundraiser in hopes of collecting $500 for them.
By the time it was done, Carrico's GoFundMe had raised $6,587, allowing the boys and the cousin who'd taken them in to get established in a new apartment.
"It's just really cool to see a community gather around to help out people who legitimately need that help immediately," Robbie Pfeffer of Phoenix band Playboy Manbaby said. "It's like wow, one thing that isn't awful news."
FROM MEGA RAN TO COURTNEY MARIE ANDREWS:The best albums of 2020 made by Arizona artists, ranked
www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/music/2020/12/24/best-albums-2020-arizona-artists-puscifer-ajj-spirit-adrift-courtney-marie-andrews-calexico/4018634001/
www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/music/2020/12/24/best-albums-2020-arizona-artists-puscifer-ajj-spirit-adrift-courtney-marie-andrews-calexico/4018634001/
How downtown Phoenix saved the Lost Leaf
www.azcentral.com/picture-gallery/entertainment/music/2020/04/23/inside-downtown-phoenix-music-venue-lost-leaf-closed-due-covid-19/5157097002/
It wasn't long after closing the doors of the Lost Leaf that Eric and Lauren Dahl reluctantly established a GoFundMe page to save their 1920s bungalow turned art bar off Roosevelt Row.
"We thought 'Do we really want to ask for help?" Lauren Dahl recalled. "Or should we just kind of see what happens?' And the reality is, we won't be able to reopen unless we get some sort of funding."
Within two weeks, the fundraiser amassed almost $16,000.
"It brought tears to my eyes to see that we've actually raised as much money as we have," Lauren Dahl said at the time. "I mean, we have a ways to go. But I am optimistic. We're the longest-running music venue that's been going on downtown in that area. So we have to make it."
www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/music/2020/04/23/downtown-phoenix-save-lost-leaf-art-bar-music-venue-coronavirus/5142901002/
The Lost Leaf GoFundMe eventually raised more than $26,000.
Chester Bennington's Phoenix days revisited on charting album
Grey Daze
As the third anniversary of Chester Bennington's death approached, recordings he made with Phoenix band Grey Daze got a second lease on life. His former bandmate released "Amends," an album built on vocals Bennington tracked between the ages of 18 and 21.
"He had raw talent from day one," drummer Sean Dowdell said of his first impression of Bennington. "He could yell, he could scream and he could do it all in key. He was 15, so it wasn't super honed. But we were all young kids. He just had something in his voice that I thought was incredible."
That voice took Bennington to multiplatinum success with Linkin Park and led Stone Temple Pilots to recruit him to replace the late Scott Weiland. "Amends" became Grey Daze's first charting album.
Phoenix blues community's support overwhelms Rhythm Room owner
Bob Corritore doesn't like asking for help. But the Rhythm Room hadn't been able to make any money since closing its doors in March. And with the state demanding that he catch up on his past due sales tax, the club owner realized he was running out of options.
So on Saturday, Dec. 12, he launched a fundraising campaign with a goal of $15,000 to help the Rhythm Room catch up on all the unpaid bills that had been stacking up.
Within two days, the GoFundMe had already generated $30,000, leaving Corritore a bit overwhelmed by the outpouring of support.
"I'm going, 'Oh my god! How does this happen?!,'" he said. "It's just incredibly gratifying that the show of support and love has been so great."
www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/music/2020/12/15/phoenix-blues-club-rhythm-room-gofundme/6543984002/
Bills were piling up for a rocker with a rare disease. So musicians stepped in
Ryan Butler is battling Wilson's disease, a rare genetic disorder that required him to undergo a liver transplant. Now his friends on the music scene are staging a virtual benefit to help him through it.
Ryan Butler was 19 and playing in two touring bands on the heavier end of the musical spectrum when he lost his mother to Wilson's disease, a genetic disorder in which excess copper builds up in the body and eats through the liver.
He had just turned 43, the age at which his mother died, when a doctor confirmed that Butler too had contracted a disease so rare a liver doctor told him he would more than likely be the only Wilson's patient the doctor's staff would ever see.
The local rocker had a liver transplant in October.
A month later, his friends in the music community, from Jim Adkins of Jimmy Eat World to Exhumed and Papa M, staged a virtual benefit concert they called Butler Fest to help him cover medical expenses.
"It's just pretty amazing that they're coming together just to help me out," Butler told The Republic. "It really feels special."
www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/music/2020/11/17/phoenix-musician-rare-genetic-liver-disorder-healthcare/6273638002/
Arizona icon Linda Ronstadt saluted with multiple honors
view full gallery: www.azcentral.com/picture-gallery/entertainment/movies/2019/09/11/photos-linda-ronstadt-sound-my-voice/2272723001/
Tucson native Linda Ronstadt was saluted with multiple honors in 2020.
The 33rd annual Hispanic Heritage Awards presented the Legend Award to Ronstadt as part of a seven-minute tribute to the singer's life in music that featured the Mavericks backing a stunning assortment of Latina vocalists, including former Valley resident Carla Morrison.
www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/music/2020/09/21/linda-ronstadt-receive-hispanic-heritage-foundations-legend-award/5853860002/
And "Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice," a documentary from Oscar-winning Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, earned a Grammy nomination for Best Music Film.
www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/music/2020/11/24/arizona-grammy-awards-linda-ronstadt/6412371002/
That award would go to the directors, not the subject of the documentary, but if it gets people checking out that life-affirming celebration of her artistry, then it's a win for Ronstadt either way.
Later in the year, the Recording Academy announced that two career-defining Ronstadt albums were added to the Grammy Hall of Fame — a 1986 collaboration with Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris called "Trio" and the following year's "Canciones de Mi Padre," her first album of traditional Mexican mariachi music.
The Format play surprise reunion show in downtown Phoenix
The Format
Fans who showed up to a viewing party for the Format concert film "Live at the Mayan" at Hello Merch's downtown Phoenix warehouse in February were in for a surprise: a full unplugged reunion concert in place of the screening they were promised.
www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/music/2020/02/03/the-format-reunion-phoenix-live-at-the-mayan-concert-album-film/4650713002/
Kelsee Becker, a fan who attended the event, said there were even shirts for sale that read, "I went to the 'Live at the Mayan' party & all I got was a lousy the Format reunion show."
Nate Ruess and Sam Means announced that their band, the Format, was going on hiatus on Feb. 4, 2008. Not quite 12 years later, that hiatus ended with a lowkey cause for celebration.
Ruess, of course, went on to multi-platinum, Grammy-winning fame and fortune as the voice of fun. But as he told the fans at Hello Merch, he looks back on the Format as "the best time I ever had."
Alice Cooper announces a new Teen Center in Mesa
view gallery: www.azcentral.com/picture-gallery/entertainment/music/2019/04/25/kids-create-alice-coopers-rock-teen-center/3581081002/
Alice Cooper's Solid Rock Teen Center is expanding into Mesa through a partnership with Mesa Public Schools.
www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/music/2020/01/23/alice-cooper-solid-rock-teen-center-coming-to-mesa-summer-2020/4543267002/
It will be housed in a former elementary school at 122 N. Country Club Drive.
Cooper's nonprofit will fund the renovations for the new center, which will provide music, arts and dance programming to youth ages 12 to 20.
The original teen center opened in 2012 on the southeastern corner of Thunderbird Road and 32nd Street in Phoenix, built in partnership with Genesis Church and Cooper's Solid Rock after more than a decade of fundraising.
Additional funding comes from grants and donations by people and organizations who appreciate what the legendary rocker, his wife, Sheryl Cooper, and their nonprofit organization have done for teens in the Valley.
The 'perfect' proposal during a Dave Matthews concert at Innings Fest
gallery: www.azcentral.com/picture-gallery/entertainment/music/2020/03/01/innings-festival-2020-dave-matthews-band/4895858002/
All Erika Grijalva ever wanted was for someone to love her the way Dave Matthews sings about loving his wife in "Crush."
Grijalva found that person seven years ago when she and Jeri Meireis started dating.
Things came full circle during Innings Festival at Tempe Beach Park.As Matthews was leading his bandmates in "Crush," Meireis proposed.
www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/music/2020/03/03/story-behind-arizona-couples-dave-matthews-band-concert-engagement/4942829002/
"I had no clue," Grijalva says. "My girlfriend and I — well, my fiance — we'd been doing a staycation and planned on going to the concert for our anniversary ..."
Scottsdale singer gets engaged at 'American Idol' audition
Scottsdale's Jordan Jones proposes to Leaira Gavern at his "American Idol" audition.
There are many ways an "American Idol" audition can change the course of a performer's life.
Jordan Jones ended his tryout on a higher note than most. He asked to bring on stage Leaira Gavern, a woman he described as "probably the greatest person that's ever been made. Then he got down on one knee and proposed as judges Katy Perry, Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan looked on in amazement.
As Jones told The Republic, "I was going for four yeses and I got 'em all." The audition was taped in November 2019. By the time it aired on March 1, Jones and Gavern had already tied the knot.
www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/music/2020/03/28/jordan-jones-american-idol-arizona-singer-who-got-engaged/2930736001/
Reach the reporter at ed.masley@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-4495. Follow him on Twitter @edmasley.
ed.masley@arizonarepublic.com
Support local journalism. Subscribe to azcentral.com today.