The Spot Magazine

magazine

The Spot Magazine is your one source publication for creative subculture. All artists, writers, musicians, or anyone who wonders off the beaten path of popular, mainstream culture will love this new magazine. Featuring the unique and unusual, eccentric and humorous, modern and extraordinary human interactions and creations put on paper for all to share. The Spot is an open source publication encouraging all readers interested in contributing to submit writings, photographs or any kind or creative works of their choosing.

The Spot is not only a magazine but a dream born to the in-spirational creators Tyler Malnerich and Summer Estella, with the help of other key team members. Each of them possessing individu-al talent and skills required to create the dynamic of The Spot Magazine. It is an on going work in progress. The grand vision of where we would like The Spot to go is endless. It is our goal to be in print by the beginning of 2010 and online, featuring a monthly “webisode” taking our audience to ultimate world of modern en-tertainment. We hope that you enjoy it.

About The Spot Magazine

Inside this issue...

The Pearl Coconuts And the Man Behind Them. Page 6

Entertainment Guide. Page 7

Up close with Jason Bradham

Page 9

Comics Page 12

The Spot’s Food Review

Page 13

Yomerica Page 14

Open Writing at The Spot

Page 16

Entertainment Review

Page 18

Contacting us.

We want to hear form you. What you like and dislike. You can send us your comments at [email protected]

For information about advertising please contact Tyler Malnerich at

[email protected] or call us

at 970-683-9171

located at

126 s. Park sq. fruita co. 81521

970-858-7675

high end apparel,

jewelery, musical

instruments and

supplies, including...

amps, picks, tuners,

strings, and cases.

the muse even offers

music lessons.

whatever you need

to play music or just

clothes to go out in

you can find it at

the muse.

The Pearl Coconuts;And The Man Behind ThemMeet James Williams. You may know him from The Williams Brothers Band, but to many he is now known as teacher. And this teacher has come upon a trea-sure chest full of young talent seemingly by accident. James has always been involved in Mu-sic from the time he was child and started performing at age 18. But in order to get the full spectrum of what James does, you must appreciate the many hats he wears. James is not only a performer but is also a family man. He owns a company called Raindance Productions and he also owns a Clothing and Music store in Fruita with his wife called The Muse. And at the end of the day he manages to find the time to teach guitar lessons.

There are many studies that show music helps the brain and it’s en-couraged during the developmen-tal years, this is nothing new. But in times when many parts of the country are cutting back on music programs in schools, we are lucky to have few individuals that rise up and keep the art alive and continue to inspire children. James Williams is this guy. James has embraced his role as teacher. He speaks highly of his all his students. Kids grow up and move on but to see the fruits of your labor go to do amazing things, that’s where it’s at. He says, “That’s the thing about being a teacher is you eventually work yourself out of a job.” James Williams has been teaching for 4 years now and he has already gotten a chance to see that progression in his students. He be-gan teaching these kids when they had never picked up a guitar, and now it can be argued that his stu-dents know more music theory than most musicians in town.

James shares his secret method with me and says, “Kids don’t know something is hard unless you tell them it’s hard. These kids are doing complex things and they don’t even know it. I’m blown away by some of the stuff they do.” He uses a reward type system while teaching and he has the kids start with acoustic before they go electric but more than that, he also understands something that not every teacher does; Kids want to have fun and be involved. Several of his students comment-ed that they like that James didn’t dumb down the music and make it to elementary for them. They weren’t forced to play the classic beginner tunes like “Mary Had a Little Lamb” and “Twinkle Little Star”.

These kids get to play Music that they al-ready love. In fact, these kids are quite in-volved with the whole process of music from writing their own music and lyrics to recording and even performing. Landon, student age 14, says, “Performing helps you overcome shyness and playing music in-creases your imagination.” His sister Kaitlen, age 16, says her favorite part of music is “being able to write [her] own songs.” She likes that James keeps his student involved in the whole music process. James keeps a relaxed environment, so if the kids aren’t getting something right away there is no stress, but he also teaches persistence so they keep trying. It is through these lessons of persistence and independence that The Pearl Coconuts came about. One day James decided to introduce a few of his students to each other and from that point on they have flourished.

The Band has four members: Sam (lead gui-tar), Luke (rhythm guitar and vocals), Cam-eron (bass), and Dylan, (drummer). A group of teenagers turned musicians that are making waves. It’s hard to describe what kind of sound The Pearl Coconuts have. They are completely original and they write their own lyrics and music. They have al-ready performed at many venues and festi-vals around the Grand Valley and even laid down a few tracks in the studio.

I got the chance to sit in on Sam and Luke’s practice and talking to them about music is inspiring. It is refreshing to hear a kids’ perspective of being a musician. They can’t help but be modest. There is no ego, just truth. Sam is eager to share his first musi-cal experience with me. He recalls a story when he was 5. He randomly picked an AC/DC album from his Dad’s CD collection and now he calls himself an AC/DC encyclo-pedia. He even has a Gibson SG, “just like Angus Young”, he tells me. I am impressed. Luke is more reserved. He doesn’t say much but it is Luke that reminds me that it takes a lot of hard work dedication to be a good musician. I am impressed kids this young have already learned what most grown-ups struggle with still.

Hat’s off to James Williams for dedicating his time to being a great mentor in our community. To listen to The Pearl Coconuts and find out about upcoming shows, go to their website @ myspace.com/thepearlco-conuts. You can reach James Williams at The Muse in Fruita, Co.

-Tanette Lee-

Entertainment with the spot

Weekly eventsMondays - jaM night at Weavers taverntuesdays - open Mic

at the ale houseWednesdays - live accoustic duo’s at sMuglers breWeryand the double tree hotel

thursdays - open Mic at the rockslide

other events 11/27/2009

the WilliaMs brothers bandat the trails in. neW castel

co.11/28/2009

the WilliaMs brothers band at the eldo. crested butte

co.

events11/25/09 - pre-thanksgiving dj lounge party11/27/09 - hip hop liquid lounge11/28/09 - a smile form the trenches- cd release par-ty12/03/09 - college night12/11/2009 - the snow ballw/ dj strangefellow & friends12/12/09 - alesana12/15/09 - youn dubliners12/17/09 - free college night12/18/09 - jingle balls - live drag show12/19/2009 - big head todd and the monsters

A Spot Profile

Jason Bradham Up Closeby

Tyler Malnerich

Hip-Hop and the buzzing of a tattoo gun are the usual sounds of Apex Tattoo, and what I was hearing when I was waiting to in-terview Jason Bradham. As I was waiting I got lost in the ambiance of the art and music that make up this very exclusive tattoo shop and home base to an artist that knows no boundaries and his mini empire. As I’m standing around I change all of my ques-tions for Bradham. At first I want-ed to know all about everything that Bradham was involved in. But after looking around I want-ed to know the man behind the art.Are you ready? I turn around and there is Jason standing there cigarette in hand, wearing a shirt from his clothing line Polar Shift. Jason and I sat out on the rooftop patio of his Grand Junc-tion studio with awe-inspiring Colorado landscape in the back-ground. Now it was time to find out what fueled this mans jet, or in JB’s case, space shuttle. When I asked Jason my first ques-tion, “When did you first know you wanted to be a professional artist?” he put his head down to think about it. After a minute, a response, “No one has ever asked me that before.” “I think it was in the fourth grade.” “I used to draw these posters of Animal Chin as a zombie (a fictional skateboard-er) and sell them for twenty five cents each.” “One day a friend of mine bought all of them, and it was then that I realized that I could really make money off be-ing an artist.” Jason took that idea and started to enter his posters into local art competitions, where by the time he was in the in was in the fifth and sixth grade he was almost guaranteed to take first place. At this point Jaosn was able to take his family out to dinner with the prizes he had won from the contests. This was a real elevated point for Bradham early in his life.

Now Jason’s life as a professional artist really started to take place in high school when he climbed aboard the airbrushed t-shirt trend that was sweeping the na-tions hip hop scene. Jason was producing and selling four to five custom airbrushed t shirts a week and at fifty dollars a shirt that was doing very well for any teenager if you ask me. When Jason turned sixteen his grandfather gave him a mint condition 1972 Volkswagen Bug. That Christmas Jason received a new air brush set which was not good for the mint VW. Ja-son pulled his new Bug into his garage and began an art project that would make his Bug remem-bered by all for a long time to come. Jason airbrushed a whole Calvin & Hobbs cartoon scene on his Bug and that car became a part of this artist’s personality and persona for all to see.

Soon enough, Jason started painting murals with friend Matt Quintana. The two started painting murals on con-crete walls and quickly started to get notice and getting paid to paint on business walls as well as backdrops for photography studios. Braham’s name was really getting out as the artist to go to. Jason’s father started to take notice and introduced Jason to a man (who’s name he can’t remember) that at one time was an artist for Disney and had a custom air brushing studio. Jason’s father set up an interview for Ja-son to get an apprenticeship. When Jason had met with the man, it did not work out, Jason did not like the idea for cleaning up after someone else and especially did not like the idea of not getting paid and not even being able to airbrush until the man thought he was ready. Jason turned the apprenticeship down and started off in a new direction in his life.

When Jason got out of high school he wanted to go searching for something bigger. As Jason said “I was on a self indulged life journey.” “I was sleeping on couches and there were times where my parents would not even know where I was for good lengths of time.” This was Jason’s time to find his way through trying new things whether it was art or music or just trying a new way of life.

When Jason turned twenty one he set his eyes on tattooing. He took his sketch book into Blazing Trails Tattoo shop where Pam (the owner) saw the drive and determination in Jason and offered him an apprenticeship. Jason worked at blazing trails for two years. At the end of the two years Jason had an extreme need to leave Colorado. Jason moved to Vancouver Washington. This was a dangerous move for Bradham, he had built up a fairly large customer base at this point and in the tattoo in-dustry is very important. Jason took the gamble and moved to Washington. Two weeks into lining in Washington Ja-son’s fiancé who was planning to trans-fer to a college in Washington, called a gave Jason the news that we would soon be a father. This was exciting news to Jason yet at the same time he had to job to do in Vancouver. Jason held out for three months in Wash. Before he came back to Grand Junction so that he would have enough money to do so. When Jason moved back to Grand Junc-tion there were few tattoo shops and the ones that were there were not hiring and even worse there were little options of work for artists. At his point Jason was “hungry” to make it in life. Jason saw the light that he could make Grand Junction his in his line of work. It was at this point that Jason decided to open Apex Tattoo Shop. Jason moved back in September of 1999 and by March of 2000 Apex was open. Now Jason had a newborn son Nicolas, and a business to run. I asked Jason how he felt at the time that all of this was happening he replied with… “I was not ready in life, but willing.” “Probably the most willing I ever was.” The next six months went fast for Bradham. Jason hit it hard and fast. At the beginning Jason was the only artist at Apex and was tat-tooing anywhere from eight to ten cli-ents a day. “The idea of spending time on large scale tattoos was in my head but I did not have enough confidence in my work to do it yet.”

Jason got some help in his shop when he took on an apprentice, Steve Radmall. This took off some of the stress that was on Bradham's shoulders but not much. Rad-mall was not always available and eventually after nine or so months moved to Montrose Co. to open his own shop. Bradham later moved his shop to it current location on Main St. in Grand Junction where it still produces tattoos today. Jason has opened the doors for a quite a few people and when you ask him about it, the humble Jason comes out. Jason over the years has had six or seven apprentices and some have worked out and some haven’t. Then comes Jeremy Rese. Jeremy was the first one that Brad-ham knew would make it right from the beginning. Jeremy reminded Ja-son of himself and new that Jeremy could help take Jason and Apex to the next level. “I taught Jeremy to tattoo and he taught me life lessons.” “It was hard for me to treat Jeremy like an apprentice.” Jeremy quickly went from apprentice to partner.

Now as it goes for Jason’s art, I wanted his opinion to where it has gone. “Nowhere I thought it would go, and not in a negative way either.” “It has opened my mind to where I can take it in the future.” “If your are totally into your muse you can take it to the next level.”

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The Spot Comics

For all of your live entertainment needs including, live bands, sound

equipment, dj ’s, band management, or event plannning.

Call 970-858-7675

The Spot on FoodE n z o ’ s P i z z e r i a and cafeReviewed bys u m m e r e s t e l l aIf you are a fan of Diorio’s Pizza you will love Enzo’s! Newly remodeled with a twist, they have taken the Horizon Drive location and have turned it into an upscale yet afford-ably priced Italian restaurant. Still having some Diorio’s favorites such as pizzas, Stromboli’s and sandwich-es, Enzo’s now offers many specialty authentic Italian dishes on their din-ner menu. Some favorites include veal cannelloni, chicken Marsala and asiago roasted garlic and basil ravi-oli. Every dish is made from scratch to order and often made by Enzo himself. Every entrée comes with a fresh baked garlic knot, made from the infamous pizza doe topped with garlic parmesan puree and orega-no. Along with your garlic knot the entrée begins with a delicious cup of homemade soup, or a fresh Ital-ian salad. Don’t forget to try one of Enzo’s awesome appetizers, for treat that is both tasty and visually daz-zling try the asparagus wraps, with prosciutto, fonita cheese a drizzle of balsamic reduction, you will be in heaven. With this specialty menu hand pick and personalized by Enzo himself this new restaurant is on its way to a true success.

Often you will see Enzo along with his own family at the restaurant. His wife Kelly makes fabulous homemade desserts such as tantalizing tiramisu and mascarpone cheesecake with chocolate hazelnut topping, both a must have, not to mention the amazing cannolis with decedent cream filling and Affogato which is vanilla ice cream with crumbled lady fingers, a fresh shot of espres-so, topped with fresh whipped cream, Yum! Along with the delicious food there is now a full ser-vice bar. It includes several beers on tap, peroni Italian bottled beer and a large wine selection. When dinning in, Enzo’s staff welcomes you with a smile; the ambiance sets the mood for fine dinning while the casual atmosphere makes one feel right at home. Upon entering you will see the open kitchen where you can watch the cooks toss pizza dough and sauté scrumptious en-trees. In the next room to the right is the lovely remolded dinning room with large comfortable booths and glass toped tables. The beautiful marble stone bar seats five to six with two large wide screen televisions over head. Ask the friendly bar tender about the current drink specials and their Italian inspired specialty drinks such as the Stilett-O, made with a mix of Bacardi-O and Bacardi-Raz rum, orange and cranberry juice over ice and served with an orange wedge. If your feeling brave try the God Father, this elegant yet masculine drink, lives up to it’s name with the one to one ratio of robust Woodford’s bourbon and sweet Tuaca (a vanilla orange Ital-ian liquor) shaken and served in a large martini glass, garnished with an orange peel twist. From exquisite food to excellent service Enzo’s makes the grade. The next time you crave amaz-ing Italian food and a great little spot to enjoy it, try Enzo’s, open six days a week 10am-9pm Monday through Saturday. They are located across the street from WW Peppers on Horizon Drive. While they do not offer delivery, Enzo’s does offer call-in take out and online ordering.

Enzo got his start by cooking with his large Italian family. Most of the reci-pes have been passed down from his family that originated in Italy. When visiting Enzo’s the homemade quality makes guests become regulars and regulars become family

Yomericaby

Tanette lee The yo-yo is the second oldest toy in the World, next to the doll. And the first toy in space. And rumor has it that the yo-yo was once used as a weapon. One thing is for certain, the yo-yo has been entertaining kids of all ages for years. In 1962 Duncan sold a record of 45 million yo-yo’s, when the childhood population at the time was only 40 million. The yo-yo scene has been up and down through the years but re-mains one of the oldest forms of entertainment.

The yo-yo scene on the Western Slope has been pretty lonely until now. Until, Aman Sircus. His pas-sion is yo-yoing. He threw his first yo-yo when he was 9 years old. And now, after 21 years of carry-ing it in his pocket everywhere he has stepped up to lead the Western Slope yo-yo craze that is already sweeping the rest of the nation. Until a few months ago Aman was one of the elite few on the Western Slope who could do more than walk the dog or rock the cradle. Now, Aman is plenty busy with his weekly Yo-Yo Club meetings, Yomerica Spindustries, and Third Hand Clothing Com-

And for all you yo-yo enthusiasts, the Yo-Yo Club is Free. Every Sun-day afternoon from 11-1, Aman hosts a Yo-Yo Club in downtown Grand Junction in the courtyard next to the Coffee Muggers Cof-fee Shop, located at 644 Main Street. It’s a way for everyone to get together and share new tricks. All you need is a yo-yo. Also, on the First Sunday of every month he holds the Wild West Yo-Yo Showdown at High Noon and the winner receives a Yomerica Spindustries Yo-Yo, $100 value. Yomerica Spindustries is Aman’s custom line of yo-yo’s. It was just under a year ago, through a chance meeting with machinist Brett Taylor, that Aman met his future with Yomerica Spindustries. Up until this point, Aman had been playing with a rugged old Duncan he had paid $250 for, 10 years prior, and it was state of the art back then. Still functional but dinged up, Aman was curious if Brett knew where he could get it fixed. Brett had a better offer. He said he could make Aman a new yo-yo, as good as the high quality and high dollar yo-yo’s the big companies make. A few weeks later they had their prototype and a new company was born. Yomerica Spindus-tries makes yo-yo’s here on the Western Slope, a much needed niche that needed to be filled. In addition to Yomerica Spin-dustries Aman has also started a clothing company called Third Hand Clothing. These compa-nies along with Omerica Organ-ics sponsor the yo-yo scene here

A yo-yo is one toy that quality really does matter. Aman is dedicated to sharing his skills with all who care to join. He explains that most people don’t get into yo-yoing because they get started on cheap yo-yo’s. It can be frustrating trying to learn on a yo-yo that is constantly getting tangled. Aman hopes to change this frustration among the school children in this valley with his new venture, yo-yo classroom projects. He is starting a tour of sponsored classes here in the Grand Valley. He brings a yo-yo for every student and gets them started. They get a chance to learn a trick or two and get to keep a very nice yo-yo that is much eas-ier to get comfortable with and have fun

on.

Aman says, “Most $80 video games get played for a week and then put on a shelf: But a yo-yo is forever.” He describes the yo-yo as “functional extreme art in the palm of your hand.” Not to mention the sport’s added health benefits; it promotes relax-ation as well as eye hand coordination. Recently in the U.S., there has been revival in the cult of the yo-yo. Continued innova-tions in design and the reintroduction of local and national competitions have com-bined to make yo-yos popular once again. Based on the toy’s iconic status, longevity, discovery and innovation the yo-yo was one of the original 17 toys inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame. The yo-yo

really is the toy that lasts forever.

If you would like to book a party, classroom lesson or make a donation you can contact Aman Sircus at yo_yo_ninja@

ymail.com. Happy Yo-Yoing!

Dear Benevolent Manufacturerby

Alex Taylor

Thank you for taking the time to process the plans for the particular model that would later be named Jon Doe. Thank you for putting the necessary time in, to assemble Mr. Doe as well. Also, thank you for assembling Jon out of less desirable components. Had you chosen the top of the line products, Jon’s outcome might have differed? Perhaps he would have become a sports model, instead of a creation model.

Kudos, on implanting Mr. Doe with an internal pressure system, which has al-lowed him to operate at full capacity, hopefully it holds up against ware and tear. Your decision to tweak the creative processor atop Jon’s support system; to make him pro-cess the world around him, in an askew manner, was shear brilliance on your behalf. It would seem that all necessary circuits were indeed connected properly and for one specific motive; to interpret, to create, to refuel, to rest, and to repeat. Also the humor program has been in constant use, nice touch.

Mr. Doe’s social abilities hard drive seems to have been misplaced; but sense you don’t seem to accept returns, or responsibility for faulty assembly, Mr. Doe will have to make do. The resilience drive has made cooping with disappointment relatively easy for the Jon model; he certainly does get some use out of it. The decision to implant the Jon model with the creativity chip has been this particular creations saving grace. Without it, he would quit possibly have activated his self destruction mechanism long ago. It would seem all of these creations of yours function much better with purpose, the Jon model is no exception.

Also, thank you for assembling a seemingly endless ensemble of creative pro-cessing models like Jon. Many of these models have been key in the tasks of de-bug-ging, as well as assisting the Jon model in discovering the true potential of his own creative processor. It would seem that you thought of everything.

Your Humble Creation,

Jon Doe

entertainment reviewby

Kelley spehar

Alright, I will just go ahead and admit it: The music scene in the Grand Valley is getting better and better. Growing up in Grand Junction I thought Denver was the only place one could go to see “real” music at “real” venues. I moved around to different places after graduating high school, three years later I moved back (damn that curse of the desert!) and suddenly all these great musicians and jam nights and open mike events had sprung up, and the Mesa Theater was booking bigger acts (Social Distortion, anyone?!). I try to attend as many of these events as I can, and this is my take on some of the great musical things happening around the Valley.

One of the most talked about shows as of late was the Social Distortion concert this past September. When I first got word that one of the most talented and legendary rock bands of our time was coming to Grand Junction I felt a mixture of excitement and disbelief. I immediately assumed they needed gas money to get to their shows in Aspen and Denver. My excitement for this show greatly outweighed my cynicism, so I attended the concert and my world was rocked. Mike Ness and his band pulled out all the stops and gave our little town one hell of a sold-out show. The energy emitted by both the band and crowd was overwhelming; at one point during their rendition of Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire” I swear I could feel every ounce of energy and excitement produced by every soul in that room. The band seemed genuinely grateful and excited to be in this town that they had probably never even heard of until the show was booked. It took 11 years and some serious pulling of strings I’m sure, but it was well worth the wait. The only complaint of the evening was that the Mesa The-ater ran out of PBR and Jack Daniels, the basic essentials for a punk rock show. I’m not saying it ruined anyone’s night (if so then obviously you were there for the wrong reasons), the music is what’s most important, but if you are going to sell PBR for two dollars at a sold-out show, expect to sell A TON of it. Bad plan-ning on the Mesa’s part but I’m sure they will learn from that mistake. Bottom line: Social Distortion was a show that will go down in Grand Junction music history. If you weren’t there, that sucks. I can’t imagine they will be back any time soon.If you’re looking to hear some real local talent or show off your own musical skills I highly suggest making your way down to the Rockslide on Thursday nights for Open Mike Night. Don’t live in GJ? Not to worry! The same event also takes place at The Belly in Montrose on Thursdays. Local musicians and good friends of mine James Williams and Evan Ward host this local talent showcase every Thursday night. If you’re lucky you can catch Evan (aka “That Guy” on guitar and vocals), Richard Sterling (aka “Dick” on guitar and, most recently, mandolin) and Alex Slorby (aka “the beardless Jesus” on drums and banjo) as The Drunken Muppets, playing bluegrass and blues-style originals and covers

A truly talented group of individuals who always get the crowd on their feet, they are not to be missed. I will note that while Open Mike brings out some great local talent, you may be subjected to quite a few Sublime and Jack Johnson covers, which, if you go as often as I do, tend to get old after awhile. So if you do venture down to the ‘Slide to show off your own talent, something different and more original is highly encouraged. So grab your guitar, violin, harmonica, didgeridoo, or whatever instrument you pos-sess talent with, curb your stage fright (because most of the crowd will socialize through your set anyway) and put your name on the list. Sign up is at 9:30pm and the music starts at around 10pm.

A similar on-going event that is well worth any music-lover’s time is Jam Night at Weavers’ Tavern every Saturday night, also hosted by James Williams. It is similar to Open Mike night but it is truly what the name implies; a night to jam with other local musicians and entertain friends and fellow music-lovers. It’s a smorgasbord of local talent, with the music ranging from blues to funk to hip-hop and almost anything in between. Musicians of all varieties are welcome and always encouraged to join in on the jam sessions, so bring your instrument and join in on the jams or dance the night away with your

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970-244-8888