Melanie Banayat is proud of her heritage, a mixture of Filipina, Pascua Yaqui Indian and Spanish. Her art – colorful, rich and sensuous studies of women – reflects that background. Melanie is a listener. Her paintings come to life from the stories of the many people she meets, mostly women.
“I paint because I want to be able to touch people’s lives in some way,” she said. “I find it to be a healing place for me, really.”

Melanie’s four children have also provided inspiration. She says their unconditional love has taught her how to paint from her heart. She painted Blue Boots (pictured) after seeing Latin American singer-songwriter, Lila Downs, performing in a pair of incredible blue footwear. Read the full story of Blue Boots on Melanie’s website, www.banayatfineart.com. See new original work by Melanie at the Summer Art Festival, August 11th & 12th, on the Courthouse Square, and at Van Gogh’s Ear Gallery, 156 S. Montezuma Street .

Years of steady puff pieces in local media on the wonderful progress of the Elks Theatre restoration have given way to hints that things aren't as rosy as many hoped. To Prescott's theatre professionals this is no surprise. Making a theatre work demands skill, nerve and a clear understanding of the needs of your audience. It also requires substantial investment and vision.

(Online editor's note: This is a companion piece to the Elks Theatre story Steven Ayres writes in our most recent issue. To find the hardcopy, go to www.pickup.readitnews.com.)

Live shows are expensive, and popular live shows are more expensive. People don't come back because tickets are cheap, they come back because they get an experience they can't get for free on TV, and they can trust the theatre to provide a certain level of quality of that experience.

A theatre can offer a pretty broad range of experiences -- dramatic productions, rock bands, chatauquas and lectures, dance, illusions, symphony, school talent shows, commencements, church services, town meetings, what have you. These experiences can be locally generated or brought in from out of town.

A commercial theatre manager has to balance the interests of the audience, the wildly varying economic prospects of each possible show, available stage time, and the physical and technical limitations of the house to determine what to put on offer. Then you get going on marketing and hope the people will show up.

Would you like to see famous or sort-of-famous people on stage at the Elks? I would. Let me give you an example of how that works. 

Delving Fine Brews with Lovibond Sparge

This sunny day is heating up fast; my cousin Lovi and I are enjoying the shade of a large ponderosa pine. She is telling me about wheat beers she has known, brewed with a grain mix that is up to half wheat.

“Weizenbier, weisse, witbier, biere blanche, white beer, hefeweizen, weizenbock, all wheat beers,” she says, her unplaceable accent changing slightly with each term, “All fine for hot summer days. A little bit sour, good for thirst, eh? In Europe, beers made with wheat and barley both are very old. In fact, for centuries Bavaria reserved it for only royal brewers to make. In America too, very old, but now just coming back after Prohibition to being made again. We can perhaps Taste both, today, hefeweizen from Bavaria and from USA.”

“Hefeweizen, Lovi? It sounds like some kind of cow, maybe a particularly wise Hereford heifer.” Lovibond, whose English is really very good, laughs. Her long black hair looks Gypsyish in the summer weather, and summer colors on her tall frame enhance the effect.