{"id":6387,"date":"2016-05-23T15:07:58","date_gmt":"2016-05-23T15:07:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.clarissarizal.com\/blogblog\/?p=6387"},"modified":"2016-05-23T15:34:48","modified_gmt":"2016-05-23T15:34:48","slug":"tulsas-hop-jam-festival-celebrating-beer-and-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.clarissarizal.com\/blog\/2016\/05\/tulsas-hop-jam-festival-celebrating-beer-and-music\/","title":{"rendered":"Learning to Appreciate City Life Through Live Music"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Tulsa’s 3rd Annual Hop Jam (in the Brady Arts District downtown) Festival Map — Sunday, May 21, 2016<\/p><\/div>\n

A block up the street from my north-facing window is a freeway with a billboard promoting all the art and music support in Tulsa, Oklahoma. \u00a0(Believe it or not,\u00a0there are 40 art organizations in Tulsa\u00a0with only a\u00a0population of 200k.) \u00a0In large letters the billboard reads something like “A pART town” etc. etc… After living downtown in the Brady Arts District for the past five months, where there’s art throughout and live music 6 days\/ week, I truly feel a\u00a0“y” ought to be\u00a0added\u00a0with down right acknowledgement and\u00a0no shame, so it reads like this: \u00a0“A pARTy town!” \u00a0How does a country-girl artist like myself who does quiet, meditative art, survive living smack dab in the middle of a pARTying city!? \u00a0Well, there’s the old saying that in my case is past tense: \u00a0it’s way bigger than me to beat, so I joined ’em! \u00a0 I am not interested in beer, or alcohol for that matter; but the music? \u00a0Well, there’s nothing like really good, live, danceable music! \u00a0The Hop Jam provided just that!<\/p>\n

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Early morning volunteers haul big coolers to the designated tents of beer vendors on Main Street of Tulsa’s 3rd Annual Hops Jam<\/p><\/div>\n

Yesterday was Sunday. \u00a0I woke up to the sounds of semi-trucks being unloaded; just after the crack of dawn at 6:30,\u00a0volunteers began\u00a0setting up for Tulsa’s 3rd annual Hop Jam. \u00a0Three blocks down Main Street and a block over have been blocked off for this big street party. \u00a0I’m glad I had one day’s notice to prepare my work day for a distracting day of beer vendors from all over the country and beyond, with live music blasting through layers of cement like only sound can do. \u00a0There’s no way I can Chilkat weave on days like yesterday. \u00a0So I set up my printing\/shrinkwrapping area and got down on it! \u00a0I have learned to adapt to the consistent noise of city living. \u00a0Here’s how:<\/p>\n

In\u00a0downtown Tulsa, Sunday is one of two days that is fairly quiet; I’ll let you guess the other. \u00a0This past week, the outdoor stage venue across the street hosted 3 full nights of 3 different bands per night; and they were pretty dang good in comparison to what I’ve heard the past 5 months! \u00a0They play until 1:30am, sometimes 2am. \u00a0How have I adapted my work\/sleep schedule? \u00a0I have learned that no matter how hard I try to sleep in, I am awake by 6, no later than 7am. \u00a0I work from 8am to about midnight, with a cat nap in mid-afternoon, after which I am good to go for another 6 to 9 hours. \u00a0With all the active pARTy-ers outside hanging to the grooving bands, the only way I can go to sleep is to work, work, work late until I can no longer think, and I drop exhausted with the blasting music finally drifting off into my subconscious dream time where I don’t care whether or not the band sounds good any more! \u00a0I calculate I get 4 hours of uninterrupted sleep per night from 2 to 6am on Tuesdays through Saturdays. \u00a0 On Sunday and Monday nights, I get 6 hours. \u00a0That’s good enough; I ain’t complainin’.<\/p>\n

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Same street as the above photo…just a few hours later…<\/p><\/div>\n

Growing up in rural Alaska, there are many things we miss out on, especially those of us born and bred in small, land-locked communities, which is most of the state except Anchorage and Fairbanks. \u00a0 Concerts of big name musicians\/singers are one of those things we don’t experience so what we don’t experience won’t hurt us, right? \u00a0We don’t know any better. \u00a0Well, not until we grow up and actually\u00a0go to a concert by a real famous person(s)! \u00a0 In less than two months, just before my 60th birthday, I have gone to two concerts, one by intention, Van Morrison, and the other I stumbled across last night,\u00a0Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, right here in the Brady Arts District of downtown Tulsa. \u00a0 I am spending a year doing things, I have NEVER done! \u00a0Attending concerts of big-name musicians is one of them!<\/p>\n

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Tulsa’s Hop Jam program guide lists all the beer vendors<\/p><\/div>\n

We’ve been told that during the Spring\/Summer\/Fall time in Tulsa’s\u00a0Brady Arts District, there is live music every weekend at the Guthrie Green (just a block over) and even throughout the week in various bars or restaurants. \u00a0During this past month, all of us artists-in-residents\u00a0are getting an earful, and from what we’ve\u00a0been told, we haven’t heard nothing yet! \u00a0 The “pARTy” is just getting warmed up along with the weather!<\/p>\n

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From the top of the northerly part of Main Strait looking 3 blocks to the band stand\u00a0(in the distance shown in turquoise.).<\/p><\/div>\n

After a productive day indoors printing the last of my edition of “An Ocean Runs Through Us”, I decided it was time to go mingle amongst the beer-drinking crowd; there were a few thousand people out there by mid-afternoon! \u00a0I took photos intended for this blog post, if nothing else. \u00a0And then I listened to a couple of bands. \u00a0I thought the bands were local boys, like most of the bands I’ve heard in this part of town. \u00a0I even thought “wow, these dudes act and sound like they are professionals…” \u00a0And then funny me, I discovered they ARE professionals! \u00a0Hello!?!?<\/p>\n

The two bands I totally enjoyed were\u00a0the “X Ambassadors” and (especially)\u00a0“Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros.” \u00a0I gravitate towards bands that have great vocals and\u00a0harmonies of which both bands employed. \u00a0Edward’s Sharpe’s band has 12 musicians; more than half of them sing which adds to\u00a0a wonderful listening experience. \u00a0If you guys don’t know the sounds of Edward Sharpe and his\u00a0band, then get onto YouTube, and introduce yourself to a great band — you’ll recognize their sound cuz the’ve been on the radio the past several years. \u00a0 I’m a new fan! \u00a0They have combined the sounds of Appalachia, gospel, rock and roll, jazz with that touch of spiritual sharing of the human heart blasted with the energy of youth! \u00a0Here’s a link from KEXP radio station in Seattle where they play a bit subdued cuz they’re in a radio station studio, though nevertheless with heart and soul; please listen through the last song they play on this video clip; it’s so sweet: \u00a0https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=5Qvi9gjRwKk \u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

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Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros closing song on stage at Tulsa’s Hop Jam Beer and Music Festival 2016<\/p><\/div>\n

Last night, after Edward Sharpe’s band ended, I walked with great appreciation back through the dwindling thickness of the crowd and I noticed I was amongst people who were no where near my age; they were all younger than my youngest daughter!!! \u00a0LOL. \u00a0In the dark, we all look the same age, but when we are out in the light,…hahahaha! \u00a0If anything,\u00a0I think I have just started to enjoy my city life surroundings. \u00a0With all this music everywhere, I am reminded that I totally enjoy live music no matter what genre. \u00a0It is in this enjoyment that allows me to make the best of my city living conditions. \u00a0I have to adapt so I can survive, so I can continue doing what I damn well love doing! \u00a0It’s all good…I’m getting into the groove of city living via live music! \u00a0Halleluia!<\/p>\n

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A block up the street from my north-facing window is a freeway with a billboard promoting all the art and music support in Tulsa, Oklahoma. \u00a0(Believe it or not,\u00a0there are 40 art organizations in Tulsa\u00a0with only a\u00a0population of 200k.) \u00a0In large letters the billboard reads something like “A pART town” etc. etc… After living downtown […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[412,389],"class_list":["post-6387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-travels-adventures","tag-tulsa-artist-residency","tag-tulsa-oklahoma"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clarissarizal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clarissarizal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clarissarizal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clarissarizal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clarissarizal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6387"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.clarissarizal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6387\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6407,"href":"https:\/\/www.clarissarizal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6387\/revisions\/6407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clarissarizal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clarissarizal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clarissarizal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}