By Marion Hager

This past June, I took a fabulous cruise aboard the Regent Seven Seas Mariner. It was my third time in Alaska, and I have to say it was by far the best. I purchased my first two Alaska cruises based on low price. This time, I paid more and went for the value.

Regent Seven Seas Cruises operates deluxe ships that are totally inclusive. Once I paid for the cruise in full, I could have left my wallet at home! My cruise fare included everything: airfare, transfers, and accommodations, including meals and entertainment, taxes, shore excursions, onboard gratuities, and all beverages and spirits aboard the ship. Even the alternative restaurants were complimentary. I booked early and reserved their minimum accommodation—a luxurious suite with a balcony.

The shore excursions Regent included at each port were nothing less than spectacular. A few of the more extensive ones required a small supplement; however, most were included with the booking. We could select from anything and everything from an active day of hiking and zip-lining to a relaxing city tour. My biggest thrill came during a whale watching excursion. We found a mother humpback and her calf and stayed with them for almost fifteen minutes, and I got a photo of the calf waving goodbye to us!

Whether you are sailing to the Alaska Last Frontier or the ancient treasures of the Mediterranean, be sure you know what you are receiving for your money. I’ve returned home from other cruises to some very large credit card bills when I thought I got a real deal on my cruise.

To receive complimentary copies of our travel magazines, Insights and Virtuoso Life, please e-mail me at marion@hagers-journeys.com with North Valley Magazine in the subject line.

By Kevin Downey

If Mozart were alive today, he’d undoubtedly be a DJ mixing tunes for a gyrating crowd in Ibiza. If Beethoven were alive, he’d be posting new music on Facebook.

These scenarios play out for fun in the minds of classical music fans. But there’s a serious question underlying this fun: Where are today’s great classical music composers?

Here’s an answer: One of them is a doctoral candidate at the University of California, Berkeley, and his white-hot career has been taking off since early this decade, with some performances in Arizona. He’s a DJ mixing electronica who also performs with world-class orchestras, often on digital drums or a laptop.

His name is Mason Bates and he’ll be in the North Valley in late February for four performances as part of the month-long Arizona Musicfest. His music is ethereal, gorgeous, lush, and intoxicating.

“I started on the piano, but I always knew I wanted to compose,” says Bates. “I found a way to combine both in a crazy concerto I wrote in 1998 for synthesizer, which I performed with the Phoenix Symphony in 2001 with [Musicfest artistic director] Robert Moody.”

Bates, a 32-year-old Virginia native with a shaggy early-Beatles haircut, is also a straightforward classical music composer. He’s a composer-in-residence at the California Symphony and, beginning next fall, he’ll be composer-in-residence with the Chicago Symphony. Since 2000, he’s been composer-in-residence at New York’s prestigious Young Concert Artists. He’s a composer who performs. When he does, it’s largely to get a firsthand feel for how electronic music fits in with classical instruments.

“The world of electronics is unmapped territory in the concert world,” says Bates. “When I’m in the percussion section with the laptop, it’s for technical reasons—I like to take cues from the conductor. But it’s also a musical decision—electronics need to operate within the orchestral setting in a way that doesn’t overwhelm the orchestra.”

Bates will perform his pieces, including “Rusty Air in Carolina” commissioned in 2006 by the Winston-Salem Symphony, at this season’s Arizona Musicfest.

Arizona Musicfest performances run Feb. 1–March 7 in venues throughout the North Valley. Mason Bates will perform with the Arizona Musicfest All-Star Orchestra conducted by Robert Moody: A World Class Opening on Tuesday, Feb. 23 at 7:30 p.m.; Opera Grand and Glorious on Thursday, Feb. 25 at 7:30 p.m.; Orchestra Fireworks on Friday, Feb. 26 at 7:30 p.m.; and Symphony Fantastique on Sunday, Feb. 28 at 3 p.m. All performances are at Pinnacle Presbyterian Church, 25150 N. Pima Rd., Scottsdale. Box office: (480) 488-0806. Visit masonicelectronica.com to sample Mason Bates’s music.

By Kevin Downey

Photos by Robert Grebe, James Hamilton, Don Meserve, Stephen Parsons, Chuck Williams

It’s easy to overlook a piece of land, no matter how expansive, beautiful, and unique. Case in point: the breathtaking McDowell Sonoran Preserve, which includes the McDowell Mountains that hug the northeast corner of the Valley. This is land—dirt, bushes, stones—but it’s much more: It’s a treasure that needs to be saved.

It’s also easy to overlook people like Carla, which is her full legal name. Carla is a commissioner on the McDowell Sonoran Preserve Commission and has tirelessly worked for decades to preserve vast stretches of the North Valley that have lured millions of visitors and residents to the area for generations. She maintains that protecting the environment is unto itself a noble cause.

“At the core, economically, keeping this beautiful open space is what draws visitors here,” says Carla, 54, who’s lived in Scottsdale since she was a child. “If you develop all of it, you’ve killed the golden goose. We’re protecting one of Scottsdale’s key industries.”

There’s another reason that Carla’s made protecting this land a lifelong effort.

“We need it spiritually,” she says. “It’s where you can go hike 20 minutes in and completely escape urban pressures. And this is our children’s and grandchildren’s classroom.”

Carla is emphatic in saying that the Preserve is intended for all Arizonans and other Americans to enjoy, as she did as a child.

“I grew up here in South Scottsdale, with a scientist mom,” she says. “We weren’t allowed to have a TV. We were always told, ‘Go outside.’ So, for us, our enjoyment was family picnics in the northern desert or taking daylong hiking trips. It was our playground, and it was our classroom.”

The Preserve encompasses more than 16,000 acres, roughly north of Via Linda and east of Thompson Peak Parkway. It includes The Gateway: a visitor center, trailhead entrance, and educational path that opened in May 2009.

The vision for the land encompasses another 19,000 acres. In 1995, voters approved a sales tax increase to purchase the land. In 1998, voters approved funding for the expansion. Additional funding was approved in 2004. And Carla was there each step of the way. In 1992, she began volunteering for McDowell Sonoran Conservancy, formerly the McDowell Sonoran Land Trust. From 1998 until 2007, she worked for MSC.

“To make something big happen, it’s like rolling a boulder up the hill,” says Ruthie Carll, executive director of MSC. “It just doesn’t happen easily. The thing about Carla that is so amazing is that she kept pushing, even when it seemed the boulder was too big.”

Carla’s efforts will be recognized with a street being named in her honor: Carla Way. The city council was scheduled to vote on final approval of the street name on January 12.

“Carla is a great example of the impact that one individual can have on a community,” says Scottsdale’s mayor, W. J. “Jim” Lane. “She was an early advocate for preservation, and her continued passion for the cause has spurred other citizens to get involved.”

By Alana Stroud

Certainly you’ve seen the commercials with the lady jumping from bubble to bubble on her mobile phone, or the guy who ages before your eyes while calling every person who owns a cell phone. What do these two have in common? They both use Sprint’s new Any Mobile, Anytime plan.

So what makes Any Mobile, Anytime different from other plans? Unlimited calling to any mobile on any network—and not just those who share your particular service provider. Lowering your rate plan while increasing your calling circle, since minutes are free, mobile to mobile. And the freedom to switch carriers whenever your heart desires!

One satisfied customer said, “For the same features I had with my old provider, similar PDA devices, and a discount off my bill through my employer, I went from paying over $300 a month after taxes to about $170 per month after taxes.” If you (or your spouse or children, who always run over on minutes, right?) like to talk, it just may be the perfect plan!

For more information, visit eprowireless.com or call (623) 587-9350.

By Cassaundra Brooks

A rose by any other name….Cross of Christ School in Anthem may be undergoing a name change for the 2010–11 school year, but it intends to maintain its spiritual and academic character as North Valley Christian Academy (NVCA). In fact, expect NVCA to raise its maturity in the areas of Christian values and academics as it renews its commitment to the greater Anthem community.

The school, launched by Cross of Christ Lutheran Church in 2005, will expand to serve preschool through eighth grade and is implementing a few positive changes in order to successfully meet the challenge of preparing its students to take on the world now and in the future using the intellectual, spiritual, physical, mental, and emotional skills and values they acquire at NVCA: The academy’s mission is to “build leaders who are thoroughly prepared to thrive in all of life, work, and with a passion to serve others,” according to admissions director and curriculum specialist Shannon Lauletta.

The hiring of the new executive director, Nate Kretzmann, is one of those changes. Kretzmann brings with him over twenty-five years of experience. He has served as school consultant to over one hundred schools in the United States and will now help NVCA grow with the support of what he considers the key principles: leadership, excellence, relationship, service, and integrity.

A nationally recognized curriculum will also present new opportunities for growth. The Core Knowledge curriculum is a grade-by-grade specification in subjects like history, visual arts, science, mathematics, language, music, literature, and geography. This knowledge-based philosophy should boost the school’s current liberal arts curriculum, which will also implement the additional focus on developing a global education program. According to their Web site, the school has a philosophy of helping children to develop mentally and spiritually in preparation for their continued education and life experiences in general, and they “strive to ensure that academically no child is left behind.”

New name. New people. New curriculum….Same mission.

(623) 551-3454 or crossofchristschool.org

The New Year has delivered some newly opened shops and restaurants at the Shops at Norterra. Stop at the new Chase Bank for some spending money, and then hit new boutiques Bella Amie and Runway Royalty and beauty supply store Avon before munching at the Mellow Mushroom.

Bella Amie Boutique offers a fresh stock of fashion and home décor in line with current trends. It features clothing options by True Religion, American Vintage, La Rok, and more. bellaamie.com

Runway Royalty Boutique houses an assortment of high-end clothing and accessories inspired by celebrity looks. The boutique caters to men and women of all ages. (623) 434-0404

For years, Avon operated as a direct marketing company, but this shop is one of the established company’s first storefronts in the Valley. Avon stocks some of the best skin-care and hair-care products on the market, as well as accessories, clothing, and more. youravon.com/dfoster7290

To grab a savory slice and down some ice-cold brew, stop by Mellow Mushroom Pizza Bakers, which features an original menu filled with pizzas and calzones, deli and grilled hoagies, salads, and munchies. Happy hour and reverse happy hour specials are ongoing, and if you live close by, you can take advantage of their delivery service. mellowmushroom.com

Check out norterrashopping.com for information on all the Norterra shops and restaurants. Look for Buffalo Wild Wings to open its doors this spring.

By Carol La Valley

Photos courtesy Kiwanis

A riddle:
They flip golden, fluffy pancakes
Dress up flea market aisles
Lend wheelchairs to the elderly
And send teens to college with anticipation and smiles

Who are they? If you guessed the busy Kiwanis of Carefree (and Cave Creek) members who are meeting the needs of people young and old in their community, you would be correct. Kiwanis’s pancake breakfasts are a signature event of the club that chartered in 1973. However, their accomplishments are not financed by pancakes alone.

At least 500 people fill the amphitheater in the heart of Carefree twice a year for breakfast, served up by Kiwanis volunteers. As fun (and tasty) as that may be, the club’s worthy endeavors have been fueled for the past 15 years by giant flea-market sales that take place about every other month. Medical-assistance items that are donated may find their way to the loan closet, and a person in need can leave a message at (480) 488-8400 and make arrangements to borrow a walker, wheelchair, or other aid. The next flea market will be held March 27 at the Kiwanis Warehouse, 7177 E. Ed Everett Way.

The club received $2.5 million in the form of a charitable trust this past year. The trust and normal fund-raising efforts enabled Kiwanis club to give the community $800,000, which includes donations to the Desert Foothills Food Bank, YMCA, Foothills Community Foundation, and Caring Corps, an organization that provides transportation for the homebound. Because of Kiwanians’ $100,000 scholarship commitment, area students are able to further their education.

“We must be good stewards of that money,” says Susan Vanic, 2009–10 club president.

Children remain priority one for Kiwanis International. The science fair, in cooperation with the Cave Creek Unified School District, is one way in which the local club makes that goal a reality. At four years old, the event is in its infancy, yet 3,325 students from 11 schools submitted 2,079 projects this past year. Kindergarten through high school students and their parents can find information about the event on their Web site.

The AKTION Club is one of three major programs that Kiwanians of Carefree have embraced this year. The volunteers will be working with professionals to fund, plan, and host social events for developmentally challenged young adults. Kiwanians are again active in the Junior Achievement program in partnership with local schools and the Carefree Cave Creek Chamber of Commerce. Vanic budgeted money for an unspecified project, and members came forward with a third idea. They are in the early stages of identifying ways to make a difference in the lives of autistic children. The president is delighted. “It just goes to show what kind of members we have in the club,” she says.

The 254-member–strong club is presently the sixth largest in the world. Members meet each Wednesday at noon at Harold’s Corral in Carefree for lunch and to hear an interesting speaker. When the Arizona weather is fine and “in season,” they number over 100. Active hands are always needed to continue traditional events and enthusiastically produce new ones.

“We have a great group of volunteers,” says past president David Bell. “Many have run big companies and now, here they are, working as laborers and having fun doing it.”

For information on volunteering and programs, visit kiwaniscarefree.org

By Marshall Trimble, Official Arizona State Historian
Photos courtesy Jean Beach King

Arizona is home today to a number of “superstars,” but the first was a rodeo cowboy and Wild West performer named “Arizona Charlie” Meadows.

Arizona Charlie’s given name was Abraham Henson Meadows, but that would soon change. He was born on a snowy day on a ranch near Visalia, California, in 1860, just before the outbreak of the Civil War. His father, John, was a Confederate sympathizer who, with the election of Mr. Lincoln, changed the lad’s name to Charles. In 1877, the family settled on a ranch at Diamond Valley, north of Payson, where the community of Whispering Pines is today.

In July 1882, Charlie left the Meadows ranch and rode to Pine Creek to guide an army detachment through the pass at the head of the East Verde River onto the Mogollon Rim. While he was there, a war party of Apache swept through the Rim Country and attacked the Meadows ranch. His father, John, was killed, and two of his brothers were wounded in the ambush. John Meadows would be the first person to be buried in the Payson Pioneer Cemetery. A short time later, his brother Harry William Meadows died from his wounds.

Charlie was left in charge to care for the family ranch. In 1884, he organized America’s first rodeo, along with John C. Chilson. On a horse named Snowstorm, Charlie won nearly every event, beating the famous Tom Horn in the roping contest. He went on the rodeo circuit with Snowstorm and set new records in steer tying at Prescott. He won again in Phoenix. Show business was in his blood, and Charlie made up his mind to become a performer in a Wild West show. By 1892, he was riding in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show.

Two years earlier, on August 16, 1890, Charlie married off his young sister, Maggie, along with her friend, by staging a cow gathering and a double wedding at what was called the August Doins. The two couples were welcome to all the cattle on the Meadows ranch they could rope and brand by sundown. Unbridled from the responsibilities of running the ranch, Charlie left Payson to pursue his dream.

Arizona Charlie had an illustrious career performing all over the world with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show before going off to form a show of his own. During the Alaska Gold Rush of 1898, he headed for the Klondike, where he struck it rich, but then lost his gold mine in a poker game. He opened the Palace Grand Theater in Dawson, in Yukon Territory, Canada, which is still in operation. In 1988, a relative, Ernest Becker, opened an $18 million resort and casino in Las Vegas called Arizona Charlie’s. The famous photo of him in his Wild West outfit graces the front of the building.

When his show biz days ended, Charlie retired to the town of Yuma, where his long, dark hair turned to silver. He wasn’t ready to go on to his reward yet, and he believed the dry, healthy climate in Yuma would extend his life.

Back before the Californians started calling us “Zonies,” old-time Arizonans referred to themselves Hassayampers, after the storied Hassayampa River. Legend claimed that once you drink its water, you can never tell the truth again. “It’ll be a snowy day in Yuma,” Charlie would say, “when they bury this old Hassayamper.”

Arizona Charlie died on December 19, 1932, and on that day it snowed an inch and a half in downtown Yuma. He was born and died in places where it seldom if ever snows.

Today, Arizona Charlie Meadows is Payson’s most famous and colorful citizen. He bears the title of Father of the Payson Rodeo for having organized and competed in America’s first one, organized in 1884.

By Kevin Madness

Out here, tall cacti stand in stately fashion, looming over beautiful desert flowers and angular agaves. Away from the city lights, the sky is clear and panoramic. The nature here seems at once uninterrupted and spectacularly assembled.

Within the Desert Botanical Garden, there is a stage—not the large steel assembly typically seen at concerts but a natural platform subtly located behind a butte lined in saguaros. It is here that there will be music.

As part of the Music in the Garden and Jazz in the Garden concert series, the native flora will sway with the sounds of a different performer each week. With wineglasses in their hands and the desert soil beneath their feet, audiences will bear witness to the best American, Latin, Irish, and jazz musicians in Arizona and beyond.

Music is meant to be experienced, not simply heard. Here, it can be experienced in the perfect setting, away from the stresses of the city, amongst the majesty of nature. Throughout February, the DBG will continue its winter concert series with Sunday afternoon concerts aimed at entertaining the entire family. In the spring, they will host the Friday evening series, Jazz in the Garden, a more sophisticated 21-and-up weekly event that offers jazz, blues, and wine before a stunning sunset. Both events will feature catering from the café and a chef-attended table making special dishes.

“I think we offer something that no one else does in the Valley,” says Katharine Spratt, entertainment coordinator for DBG. “We have an amazing lineup of talented musicians that are as diverse as the people who live in the Valley.”

Spratt, a music lover, grew up attending concerts at the DBG and now helps select the performers for the concert series. Even with adept performers and a fantastic venue, Spratt says it’s something else that makes the concerts special. “The people who come are some of the nicest people I’ve ever met,” she says. “It makes for a wonderful atmosphere.”

It’s important to consider that, beyond entertainment, the concerts are a means of support. Ticket sales raise funds for DBG, the area’s singular preserve for rare and endangered desert plants.

“It’s a nice symbiotic relationship between the garden and the community,” Spratt says. “It’s a way to enjoy music and also to get desert wildlife preserved.”

For the players, it’s a chance to showcase their music in front of a large audience (the venue seats 450) and also to perform within an exotic and uniquely local ambience.

It will be Solomon Douglas’s first visit to the garden. He will be leading his quartet through 1950s jazz standards in the garden on March 13. For Douglas, a pianist and bandleader out of Seattle who tours constantly, the performance will be an opportunity to make a strong impression with a new audience.

“As long as I’m connecting with individuals in the crowd through my playing, I’ll be inspired, and the music will be great!” he says. “The venue makes a big difference; my music, being the music of smoky bars, speakeasies, and brothels, will be a delightful contrast to the springtime Arizona weather.”

In terms of atmosphere, playing the garden stage will be an exciting change of pace.

COST: Members: $14/Non-Members: $20

**Must be 21 years or older to attend concert.

Ticket price includes Garden admission.

TICKETS: Order tickets online at dbg.org, by phone at (480) 481-8188, or through the Admissions Box Office. For groups of ten or more, call (480) 481-8104 to learn about discounted group tickets.

Music in the Garden

Sunday afternoons: noon–2 p.m.

Feb 7 Brazen Heads—Irish Rock

Feb 21 Cascabel—Latin/rock/pop

Jazz in the Garden

Friday evenings: 7–9 p.m.

March 5 Nina Curri and the King Snakes—blues/jazz/roots

March 12 Solomon Douglas Quartet—jazz/blues/big band

March 19 Big Pete Pearson—blues/boogie/soul

April 2 Hot Club of Phoenix—acoustic/swing/jazz

April 9 Pete Pancrazi—jazz guitar/bossa nova

April 16 Fuerza Caribe—Latin/jazz/salsa/mambo

April 30 Huneybrown—jazz/R&B/blues

May 7 Armand Boatman’s Be-Bop Revolution—jazz

May 14 The Del Rayz, featuring members of Sistah Blue—blues/boogie/jazz

May 21 Cinco de Moio—Latin/jazz/lounge

May 28 Dennis Rowland—jazz/R&B/soul

Friday evenings: 7:30–9:30 p.m.

June 4 Cold Shott and the Hurricane Horns—R&B/soul/funk

June 11 The Bad Cactus Brass Band—jazz/funk/blues

June 18 The Jump Back Brothers—roots/blues/rockabilly

June 25 Big Nick and the Gila Monsters—Chicago blues

For more information and directions, call (480) 941-1225 or visit dbg.org.

By Kevin Downey

Photos by Paige Dutcher

After hearing Bill Dutcher strum his acoustic guitar—and smack and finger-tap it, too—at venues like Cave Creek Coffee Co., it becomes immediately clear that we’ve got an extraordinary musician performing a rarely heard but intoxicating style of music right here in the North Valley.

That’s most obvious when Dutcher, who relocated here from Ohio in 2005, pulls out his harp guitar—a fairly ordinary-looking acoustic guitar except for a gargantuan second six-string arm sprouting from the top of it.

Dutcher, who in November released his second CD, Finding Time, is one of about fifty people on the planet who plays the harp guitar professionally. The sound is lush—melodic and ethereal.

“When you say you’re a solo acoustic guitarist, the impression a lot of people have is a guy strumming chords and singing into a microphone,” says Dutcher. “My approach is to break that mold.”

Dutcher plays all styles of acoustic guitar but notably uses the finger-tapping technique perhaps made most famous by the late Michael Hedges. Hedges was a guitarist who inspired Dutcher in the mid-1990s to become a solo modern acoustic guitar player. Prior to that, Dutcher, a married father of two, played anything but acoustic guitar. As guitarist for the indie rock band The Crunch, he slashed and thrashed on electric guitars. Since then, Dutcher has become a singer-songwriter. He’s performed on the soundtrack for the film Paper or Plastic?. He performs at corporate events and private parties, and he’s planning a tour of the Southwest for 2010.

Around the North Valley, Dutcher’s best known for a standing Friday night gig at Cave Creek Coffee Co., where he landed a regular spot only days after arriving in Arizona in 2005.

“That has really helped my career in terms of getting national exposure,” he says. “I’ve met people from around the globe who just breeze through that room.”

More information about Bill Dutcher, including his performance schedule, can be found at billdutcher.com. He performs most Fridays (7–10 p.m., adults 21 and over) at Cave Creek Coffee Co., located at 6033 E. Cave Creek Road in Cave Creek. (480) 488-0603