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A Wealth of Archaeological Sites in the City of Phoenix

Phoenix is an ever expanding city, with construction projects underway each day of the year, from some of the finest and best Phoenix hotels, to the building of sports arenas and new housing developments.  Before a new project is underway however, the archaeologists are called into to excavate and survey the land on which these new buildings are being constructed.  The reason for this is the vast array of archaeological sites that have been found in the city and the surrounding areas.

This region of the Southwest is rich with the history of Native American cultures, and whether it is scholastic study in the Anthropology Department of Arizona State University, or a whether it is an interest of hobby, many people travel to this city to discover the wealth of information that lies buried in the dry Arizona desert.  There are digs and research projects that have been underway for many years, and these are great locations to visit as tours are offered, however many of the digs have raised more mysteries than solved answers.

One such site and museum, is located in downtown Phoenix close to the airport, Pueblo Grande.  This is just one of the more than twenty Hohokam sites throughout the Valley of the Sun.  It dates back to the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and offers a bit of insight into one of the earliest known cultures to have settled along the Gila River.  Casa Grande is a site located just to the Southeast of Phoenix near the town of Coolidge.  Mystery surrounds this site, as many scientists have speculated that not only was it a settlement, but that in the carefully constructed, multi-level pueblo construction, it may have also been an observatory, an early base for the study of Astronomy.

This area was flooded in 1911, by the construction of the Roosevelt Dam, and many of the remains were destroyed, leaving much of this site and the people who inhabited it, an enigma.  This is the reason for the research done now by anthropologists and archaeologists throughout the city, to protect these remains, the artifacts, and the history before new construction begins.  Touring the archaeological sites and the museums of the Southwest desert city of Phoenix opens one’s eyes to those who have been here before, and to those living in the city today.  Those whose ancestors lived here more than 500 years.

Tags: Anthropology Department of Arizona State University, best Phoenix hotels, Casa Grande

Man on the Moon in NYC

I tried to follow the footsteps of Andy Kaufman in NYC, not with the attempt to become him, but to try to find out what was on his mind.  It has been an obsession that’s lasted longer than I would ever care to admit, but that seems to be part of the legacy of trying to figure out the man on the moon.  In a way, it’s like following after any of the great mad artists, like Artaud or Giacometti, you get into their worlds very easily, but it’s also very difficult to find your way back out.  There’s a certain saturation point where it’s difficult to tell if you’re getting anything out of the search besides getting more disturbed.

He didn’t really live long enough for us to know if he was truly disturbed, or singularly obsessed, but it was a music that only he heard.  When we could hear it, too, it was pure joy, but otherwise we were lost and felt dumb for not getting the joke.  In that spirit, I checked into a five star hotel in New York by pretending to be someone else, I won’t say who, just in case it’s still on the register somewhere, and spent the weekend in this other name, as if it were an alter ego.  The only thing I could do that was familiar, I told myself, was to read part of the Kaufman biography I’d already been through a dozen times.

I don’t really know what the intention was, but I know that somewhere along the line I went from nervous to absolutely giddy.  It was extremely gratifying to have people believe me in coffee shops and park benches, and I began to see some of the appeal of putting people on.  That strange figure who I once watched at my parents’ house, on Van Dyke and Company, started to make sense.  This was only a glimpse, however, because the weekend was over, and I was out of money.  It was something I would never repeat, because it opened up something strange, a kind of box of phantoms there that dance at the edges of the place where life starts to blur into art.

Tags: Andy Kaufman, five star hotel in New York, Van Dyke and Company

Ray from Georgia

Tags: Jimmy Carter, Ray Charles

Greensboro Doll

While you are getting out from one of the elegant hotels around Greensboro North Carolina you may find yourself on Dolley Madison Road. Would you think of the pre made Dolly Madison baked goods or the wife of the James Madison, forth President of the United States. She was quite the lady and she was born in Greensboro in May of 1768. She would also act as the First Lady for Thomas Jefferson since he was a widower. She would participate in ceremonial functions when she was needed.

She was born to Mary Coles a Quaker and John Payne who became a Quaker three years into marriage. So Dolley was raised with the Quaker faith and that set the tone of her life. Dolley was one of eight children in the Payne family, four boys and four girls. For a brief time that family lived in Greensboro and that is, of course, when she was born. They came from Virginia and later returned to Virginia until 1765 when John Payne let his slaves go free and moved to Philadelphia and went into business as a starch merchant.

In 1790, Dolley married John Todd a Quaker lawyer. He died of yellow fever in Philadelphia in 1793 along with her youngest son William Temple. Then came along James Madison who was seventeen years older than the twenty five year old Dolley. He had his friend Aaron Burr introduce them and they hit it off and were married in September of 1794. Dolley became an Episcopalian following James’s faith. James was in the House of Representatives for eight years and then retired. They moved to the Madison family estate in Virginia to be planters and live quietly. Thomas Jefferson had other plans as he asked James to be his Secretary of State. He accepted the position and they were diverted to Washington D.C.. She went on to be a very important person in the presidencies of Thomas Jefferson and her husband James Madison.

Tags: Aaron Burr, elegant hotels around Greensboro, James Madison

Hampton Song Bird

If I spend a some nights at a some quaint hotels around Hampton and search out the different areas of the Virginia coast would I get a better idea of were Ella Fitzgerald was coming from? It is always my belief that an artist is going to put all there experiences of childhood and adulthood into there art or performance. The jazz vocalist, Ella Fitzgerald, did have a very interesting life. Her voice was so rich and soulful that she melted the hearts of the world with her voice. He had three octaves of pure tone blended with perfect diction and delicious phrasing. Her scat singing was a signature of her style it is no wonder she received 13 Grammy Awards and other awards for her talent.

Originally, Ella wanted to be a dancer but she was also a great lover of music. Her mother would play jazz records of Bing Crosby, Louis Armstrong and The Boswell Sisters. She fell in love with Connee Boswell and decided she wanted to sing just like her. Her young life would take a big turn for the worse when her mother died when she was about 15 years old. She ended up getting in trouble. It started with skipping school, to working with the Mafia. Finally she was picked up by the police, taken to a reform school of which she escaped and then was placed in a colored Orphan Asylum in the Bronx.

At age 17 she made her big singing debut at the Apollo Theater in Harlem. It became a weekly performance were she pulled in a good audience so was asked to take part in the Amateur Night that the theatre hosted. Funny, she was going to go on dancing but she got intimidated by another act and decided to go on singing in the same jazz style as Connee Boswell. She was a hit and won the first prize of twenty five dollars. Her life and career went on to be astounding. She played with many famous musicians and met presidents had ups and downs. I am sure that all of her interesting life was in every note she sang.

Tags: Bing Crosby, Connee Boswell, quaint hotels around Hampton

Brooklyn’s Prospect Park: 150 Years of Renewal and Revitalization

The wonderful park in Brooklyn, Prospect Park, has been through many times of birth, decay, and rebirth. There are many individual facilities in the park and each one is rich with the history not only of the park, but of this particular New York borough as well. In recent years, the park has been going through several projects of rejuvenation and renovation, all under the care of the Prospect Park Alliance. Thus creating once again, a transformation which makes this location in Brooklyn one of the most popular destinations for tourists and residents alike.

The bandshell for instance, was originally designed and built by Aymar Embury and was recently refurbished in 1983, under the direction of the Prospect Park Alliance. Today, many people enjoy a night out in one of the best restaurants Manhattan and Brooklyn streets are lined with, and then a wonderful outdoor concert at the bandshell.  For the children, and for carousel enthusiasts of all ages, the carousel of Prospect Park is another one of the many individual aspects of the park, that has a rich history all its own.

There have been many carousels in the park since 1874.  Some of the early carousels burned down, and the one that still turns in the park today, was moved from its original location on Coney Island.  This one was closed down in 1983 due to the increasing deterioration over time, but again, the Alliance stepped in, and in by the fall of 1990, the carousel became the first project completed during the massive project involving all of the aspects of the park.  More than eight hundred thousand dollars were raised to fix the parts that had broken, and restorative artists removed about twenty layers of paint, to reveal the original paint on the carvings of Charles Carmel.  Any time spent in New York is not complete without a trip to Brooklyn, and any day in Brooklyn, is so too, not complete without a walk through Prospect Park.

Tags: best restaurants Manhattan, carvings of Charles Carmel, Prospect Park Alliance

Salsa in the Midwest

Indianapolis is one of those rare places in the world where salsa and real estate might come together in new and interesting, and certainly unexpected, ways.  It’s a city that’s famous for representing a version of the heartland of the U.S. that people generally accept.  The city is neither too big nor too small, with some gorgeous landscapes.  It’s also enormously cosmopolitan, and there are many different cultures and traditions that exist here.  The Latino population has increased tremendously in the past decade, and is still growing.

People who come to visit the city are finding it a delightful place with an enormous amount of cultural offerings.  Live theatre, dance, and music, are always to be found, and there are some stunning performers that call Indianapolis their home.  Visitors can check out www.indianapolisluxuryhotels.com to find a sumptuous place to stay that will offer splendid accommodation and wonderful hospitality.  There are many wonderful things about the midwest, and one of the most exciting has always been its adaptability, and its ability to change with the population.  So it should be no surprise to find fantastic salsa music here, and Orquestra Bravo! is one of the most visible groups in town.

They play a kind of salsa whose roots are partially in the heart of San Juan, Puerto Rico, where the rich brass accompanying the accomplished percussion makes a sound that is meant for dance halls.  It is enormously intoxicating music, and the vocal stylings and personal charm of Stacie Sandoval make it a very hot way to spend an evening, even in the heart of winter.  This is salsa at its most lush and gorgeous, and it’s changing the local soundscape in remarkable ways.  They do play salsa, of course, but also are accomplished in a number of other Latin styles, and make an evening remarkable.

Tags: Orquestra Bravo, Stacie Sandoval

One Week is not enough in New York City

New York was our last stop on a whirl-wind 3-month tour of America. We had purchased our round-trip tickets from Bangkok to New York City, which means we needed to be back in New York to catch our return flight to Thailand. We managed to spend a full week in the city.

We were staying in one of the top New York City hotels, which is what we saved up all our travel money for, we wanted to experience the best New York has to offer, and we weren’t disappointed. It rained the whole day we arrived, so needless to say we got soaked in Central Park. We ducked inside a museum and had a great time trying not to drip or way through the Meso-American pottery and the Impressionism period. We got the nastiest looks from people, but, luckily no one kicked us out.

After mopping up at the museum, we went to the oldest bar in New York and proceeded to drink some pretty strong local brew. This helped us get over the rainy day and the wet experience in the museum. After several shots of liquor, we stumbled back to our hotel room by 4am, we managed to take off all our damp clothes and take a nice shower before we fell asleep.

Much later the next day, when we finally woke up, the weather had improved immensely. The sun was shining and the temperature was decent. We hit the town! We walked all over the city and got to watch a taping of the ‘Late Night’ show with Jimmy Fallon. That was a real treat. Jimmy’s guest that day was Paul Simon! Paul played with The Roots and we were in music heaven. Then Jimmy’s next guest was Steve Martin! He was so funny. Finally, Tina Fey showed up and she sat with us, the audience! I could barely believe it! This was definitely the highlight of our trip.

We didn’t think anything would be as exciting as the taping of the show, but when we took the Staten Island Ferry to see the Statue of Liberty and that was pretty cool too, she’s no Tina Fey, but Ms. Liberty has her own flare and history.

During the week, we got to see the Hard Rock Cafe located in Times Square, FAO Schwartz, the Brooklyn Bridge, The Guggenheim, The Met, The Empire State Building and got to eat tons of New York style pizza. There was so much more we wanted to do, but we ran out of time. I recommend that if you’re on a tour of the United States, do make New York City your last stop and if at all possible, stay longer than a week; a week is not enough time to experience all this vast city has to offer.

Tags: Jimmy Fallon, top New York City hotels

NY Yankees and Subways

I was up early making sure everything was still in order for my flight to New York City. I double checked all my things and said goodbye to my roommates and took the bus to the airport and caught my flight. When I arrived at the JFK airport, I took the Airport Shuttle to my hotel, it was one of the better NY hotels that was only a few blocks away from Central Park. But, before I could catch the shuttle I had to go through customs, which was cool by me, I’d rather be safe in New York while I’m there visiting.

It took the shuttle two hours to get me to my hotel, but it was worth it. I’d never be able to drive around New York on my own. The congestion alone would drive me batty. I ran into a bit of a problem with my money. I mean, I had money, but it was Canadian and I couldn’t find anyone to convert it for me. Something about it being after 4pm and how the new exchange rates wouldn’t be available until tomorrow morning at 9am!  Luckily, the concierge at my hotel managed to find a bank that would help me apply for an emergency money wire. I had to go to a not so savory part of town to pick up the money, but it was all cool, because it was just in time for me to make my way to the Yankee Baseball Stadium.

I actually caught the subway to the Yankee Stadium all on my own without asking directions. I then followed the crowd to the stadium. I picked up my tickets at the ‘Will Call’ window and made my way to my seat. I had a really good seat, it was right behind 1st base on the first level! What a great view! I really liked ordering a hot dog and having it tossed to me. That day, the Yankee’s lost, but it was a great experience for me. My first American baseball game! The Yankees to boot.

I once again, managed to find the right subway to take me back to my hotel for a good night’s rest before another grand day in New York City.

Tags: NY hotels, Yankee Baseball Stadium