Sedona News – The Sedona International Film Festival is proud to present the Northern Arizona premiere of “The King of Laughter” showing Nov. 25-30 at the Alice Gill-Sheldon Theatre. Naples, 1904: Italian theatre is thriving, and comic actor, Eduardo Scarpetta (Toni Servillo) is the box office king. Known in the Neapolitan theater for his cheeky alter egos, Scarpetta’s larger-than-life stage productions were matched only by his eccentric personal life. Composed of wives, partners, lovers, legitimate and illegitimate children (including a young Eduardo De Filippo, famed Neapolitan playwright), Scarpetta’s home situation resembled one of his comedies more than a traditional family.…
Author: Tommy
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‘Tis the season for love and laughter, seeing old friends and making new ones, and picking out meaningful gifts for loved ones. You can do all three on Friday, December 1, from 4 to 7 p.m. at Rowe Fine Art Gallery during its annual holiday show, Let it Shine, which lasts the entire month of December. “Everything shines bright and beautiful during this time of year,” says gallery co-owner Monica Rowe. “It’s one of our favorite months here in the gallery because we have so much fun helping our clients choose the perfect presents for their favorite people. Spirits are high, and…
By Amaya Gayle Gregory It’s so funny. It cracks me up the way we grab ahold of our story as if it’s the real one, the right one. I do it too at times and it still cracks me up. This rollercoaster ride of a lifetime is impeccably grand, fiercely intense, delightfully fun, and so completely traumatizing at times … how does it do that? I never know which face of this infinitely faceted clown will pop out of the box next and I adore that. Surprises are my friends. One moment I am the widow, on my own to…
By Tommy Acosta Sedona, Az — Yet, another attack on the integrity of Sedona was launched in a November 15 Arizona Republic opinion by EJ Montini, titled While Sedona tourists stay in luxury, the help sleeps in cars. In the article, Montini denigrates our town, claiming that Sedona, rather than it being a spiritual Mecca, is more of an “aristocratic principality without affordable housing.” He writes that while well-heeled visitors dine in the most expensive restaurants, embark on spiritual adventures, enjoy the benefits of world class spas and retreats, the workers that serve them, the cooks, servers, hotel employees, tour guides,…
Sedona News – The Sedona International Film Festival is proud to present the Northern Arizona premiere of “Out of the Darkness” showing Nov. 24-30 at the Mary D. Fisher Theatre. “Out of the Darkness” follows the Skov family from the spring 1943 to the summer 1945, when Denmark becomes free again. The Skov family is divided. Aksel, who joined the Resistance Movement, has gone underground and evolves from idealistic amateur to hardcore partisan. Karl is fighting for his life’s work on harder and harder conditions, and when the coalition government collapses, he is suddenly without political support and must do…
Verde Valley News – The Friends of Camp Verde Library are holding an art sale through January 5th, 2024. All artwork is on display in the library lobby at 130 North Black Bridge Road, Camp Verde, open M-Th 8 am-7 pm, Fri-Sat 9 am-5 pm . The art pieces range from acrylics to posters to oils and just about everything in between. All proceeds benefit the Camp Verde Community Library.
Sedona, AZ — Recently, our city took a hit from a major metropolitan newspaper accusing Sedona residents of prejudice against “hippies.” The hit came Nov. 12 from the New York Post in a story titled Fed-up Sedona residents begging LA hippies to stay away; ‘Hate what it’s become’ by Post writer Taylor Knight. The article accuses Sedona of wanting to block Los Angeles residents visiting our town who may or may not be hippies that are looking for peace and enlightenment, rather than staying for extended periods and spending tons of money. The article purports that local Sedona residents lament…
… It was a beautiful day on Lake Pleasant and with a goodly amount of cloud cover, the lighting was soft, and an abundance of wildlife today kept the shutters firing and memory cards filling up. I got lots of photos of a pair of bald eagles in flight, but this one of him perched on a tree trunk coming up from the lake and looking right at me fit the mood … and he was politely asking us to leave so he could continue with his quest for food. The land mass behind him is an island about a…
Sedona News – The Sedona International Film Festival is proud to present a sneak preview audience test screening of “Activismo: Art & Dissidence in Cuba” Nov. 24-25 at the Alice Gill-Sheldon Theatre. Filmmakers Carole Elchert and Philip Sugden will both be in Sedona to host the screenings and conduct Q&A discussions after both shows. This special event will also include a screening of the short documentary “Anastasia” with special guests Anastasia Shevchenko, the subject of the film, and Pavel Khodorkovsky, whose father, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, produced the film, in attendance. Anastasia and Pavel, as well as Bruce Misamore of Sedona —…
Sedona News – As part of a detailed urban heat island mapping effort this past summer, the results show that the sections of Sedona’s city limits with the largest areas of asphalt and fewest trees – Uptown, the center of West Sedona, and parts of southern Sedona along State Route 179 – experience the worst aspects of the urban heat island effect, similar to heat patterns in many other cities around the country. This means that in those excessive heat zones, it could be at least 9.1 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than other areas of Sedona, creating excessive heat for those…
… new insights and new dreams … new techniques and new artforms from old and new photographs. I have spent the evening going through old photographs and trying new ways of conceptualizing an end result for them … and then following new paths and techniques as I work on them. Here are two of the ones I worked up this evening. The image above is a shot I took of a dove in a tree backlit by an almost full moon … there were numerous bluebirds in the tree with him. I already had the moon in the photograph, and…
Sedona News – The Sedona International Film Festival is proud to present the Northern Arizona premiere of “The Persian Version” showing Nov. 24-30 at the Mary D. Fisher and Alice Gill-Sheldon Theatres. Coming from two countries at odds with each other, Iranian-American Leila (Layla Mohammadi) strives to find balance and embrace her opposing cultures, while boldly challenging the labels society is so quick to project upon her. When her family reunites in New York City for her father’s heart transplant, Leila navigates her relationships at arm’s length in an effort to keep her “real” life separate from her family life.…
Arizona News – On Tuesday (Nov. 14), the American Conservation Experience (ACE) was awarded a large America the Beautiful Challenge (ATBC) grant to conduct important watershed improvement and invasive species management work for up to four years on Coconino National Forest. The $1,755,900 grant included a grant amount of $1,404,700 with matching funds of $351,200 and will employ two specialized six-person crews to perform the work. The crews will remove and treat invasive species on 1,000 acres as well as deliver 15 miles of instream and riparian restoration. They will do this through the removal of failed culverts, channel stabilization, installation of rack or…
… it was a magical day … I found hundreds of the originals of images from several aerial shoots I did, but could not remember where I had put them, or possibly deleted them … it has been years since I masterfully filed them in Abstract Photos … many years ago, Corky and I contracted with our oldest daughter to come in and straighten out our client files as neither of us were very good in organization. After two weeks, Sus left a note on the file room door stating that there is no such thing as a miscellaneous client.…
Sedona News – The Sedona International Film Festival is proud to present the Northern Arizona premiere of “Amerikatsi” showing Nov. 24-29 at the Alice Gill-Sheldon Theatre. In 1948, decades after fleeing Armenia to the US as a child, Charlie returns in the hope of finding a connection to his roots, but what he finds instead is a country crushed under Soviet rule. After being unjustly imprisoned, Charlie falls into despair, until he discovers that he can see into a nearby apartment from his cell window — the home of a prison guard. As his life unexpectedly becomes entwined with the…