Arizona Legislative District 16 House of Representative Election Results

Saturday Morning in West Mesa: Grand Opening of Mesa Grande Cultural Park

Early this morning, we were at the grand opening of Mesa Grande Cultural Park, the culmination of decades of efforts to preserve one of the most important prehistoric Hohokam sites in Arizona. When we first came to Arizona in 1998, our brother lived just down the block, on West 10th Street east of Date Street, so we knew the area pretty well but had never before been able to explore this ancient archaeological treasure.

According to the Arizona Historical Society,

The Hohokam, the ancestors of the Akimel O’odham (Pima), constructed the Mesa Grande temple mound. With walls made from “caliche,” the calcium carbonate hardpan that forms under our desert soils, the mound is longer and wider than a modern football field and is 27 feet high. Construction of the mound began by AD 1100 and continued to at least AD 1400. A large adobe wall encloses the mound and a large plaza in front of the mound. In one corner of the site, volunteers from the Arizona Museum of Natural History constructed a replica of a Hohokam ballcourt, an open-air structure where ballgames were played using a rubber ball made from a local plant.

One of two Hohokam “great mounds” in the Salt River Valley, the Mesa Grande mound was a dramatic symbol of the power of this ancient community. The village surrounding the mound once covered over one-half square mile and was home to perhaps two thousand Hohokam. Situated near the headgates of one of the two largest networks of irrigation canals created in the prehistoric New World, the site of Mesa Grande controlled over 27,000 acres of highly productive farmland.

The City of Mesa purchased the Mesa Grande ruins in the 1980s to preserve Mesa’s premier cultural treasure and to open it to the public as an educational and recreational facility.

This project has had the enthusiastic support of the community since 1927 when local citizens and the chamber of commerce held a parade down Main Street to promote its development. More recently, the Mesa Grande Neighborhood Alliance identified the development of Mesa Grande as a heritage tourism destination as their number one economic goal.

There was a free pancake breakfast after the ribbon-cutting ceremony, but we just were happy to walk around the site, learning a great deal about the Hohokam and their sophisticated society.

We're grateful to everyone involved in this, especially the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, which provided a lot of the funding. The visit to Mesa Grande Cultural Park made us think of Tom Outland's story in Willa Cather's The Professor's House, one of our favorite underrated novels, when Tom comes across the ruins of the New Mexican cliff dwellers:

I can't describe it. It was more like sculpture than anything else. I knew at once that I had come upon the city of some extinct civilization, hidden away in this inaccessible mesa for centuries, preserved in the dry air and almost perpetual sunlight like a fly in amber, guarded by the cliffs and the river and the desert.

Saturday Night in Mesa: Cold Shott and the Hurricane Horns at the Superstition Springs Center Outdoor Amphitheater

Tonight we caught a really nice show put on by Cold Shott and the Hurricane Horns at the outdoor amphitheater at the Superstition Springs Mall, the first of this summer's Superstition Springs Concert Series.

It was great to hear old-school blues for a change, and the Cold Shott and the Hurricane Horns put on a fine show.

From the band's promo material:

COLD SHOTT and THE HURRICANE HORNS started in Phoenix, AZ in 1990, as the 3-piece “COLD SHOT BLUES BAND” and is celebrating its 20 Year Anniversary in 2011.The band evolved, under the leadership of founder Ted Kowal (bass, manager) to become a powerful mainstay in the Arizona R&B, Blues, Funk and Soul music circuits. Adding a horn section and a formal name change to the band in 1991, COLD SHOTT and THE HURRICANE HORNS performs regularly at local clubs, community and municipal festivals, as well as music showcases and concerts. . . This 8-piece group boasts a rocking rhythm section, powerful vocals and a 3-piece horn section.

The band features many veteran Arizona musicians most of whom have performed professionally since the 1960’s, not only in Arizona but all across the United States. Winning the 1999 Phoenix Blues Society Annual Blues Showdown sent the band to Memphis, TN to represent Arizona in the International Blues Challenge. The band was also chosen as the Year 2000 “Best Blues Band” as awarded by The Arizona Republic. They have opened up for or backed notable artists such as Delbert McClinton, Jerry Lawson, Guitar Shorty, Chico Chisum and Little Milton. 2010 saw them open for both Eddie Money and The Robert Cray Band and as an opening act for Curtis Salgado and The Tommy Castro Band in 2011.

Here is Al "Smiley" Hernandez of The Hurricane Horns jamming on the Carlos Santana classic "EUROPA" at the 2010 Glendale Jazz and Blues Fest, April 17, 2010. And here is Cold Shott and The Hurricane Horns tearing it up at the same event, with Tim Finn on lead vocals. Tonight's show featured some numbers that were just as good.

It was a pleasant evening outdoors after a few really hot days, with yesterday's record 111 degrees.

We're grateful we got to see Cold Shott and the Hurricane Horns tonight.

Friday Evening in Downtown Mesa: 35th Birthday Party for Arizona Museum of Natural History

At 6:30 p.m. today we were back in beautiful downtown Mesa, walking up Macdonald past the music fans waiting online at the Nile Theatre to just north of Main Street, where the wonderful Arizona Museum of Natural History was holding its 35th birthday party, with the street in front of it blocked off for many fun activities for kids. Free admission brought scores of families inside the museum to see its many fascinating exhibits.

More coming. . .

We had a great time and learned a good deal at the Arizona Museum of Natural History this evening, and we're grateful we got to attend its 35th birthday party.

And we're sorry we didn't invite it to ours in 1986.

Friday Evening in Downtown Mesa: Sci-Fi Friday with Steampunk Street, Costume Contest, Swap Thing and Zombie Walk on Main Street

At 6 p.m. we were on Main Street in beautiful downtown Mesa for the first hour or so of Sci-Fi Friday, featuring Steampunk Street, a Zombie Walk, a Costume Contest, Swap Thing and some good live music from several local bands.