An Amazing Musical Suprise: MIM

What's in a name? I admit, “musical instrument museum” did not inspire me. I pictured a dusty set of cabinets with tarnished saxophones, even though a couple of well-traveled friends raved about the place. How right they were!

I have mentally renamed the Musical Instrument Museum (MIM) “The Amazing Museum of World Music” (the acronym isn't as clever but this place is so uplifting, illuminating and inspiring to everyone, not just musicians, it deserves a name that should have people flocking to it.

First, the building itself is elegant and handsome. Second, visitors experience the best of technology with portable headsets that automatically pick up transmissions when they approach any of the hundreds of video/sound screens that explain and demonstrate various musical styles etc. The exhibition rooms of mechanical music machines and play-it-yourself instruments on the first floor are just plain fun, and the “world of music” on the upper floor is nothing short of fantastic. Talk about seductive! As you pass from area to area, country to country, section to section, snatches of songs and sounds call out to you to stop and examine the unique costumes, cultures, musical styles and instruments from, say, Burkina Faso in Africa, or Latvia, or Israel ( the floor is roughly divided by continents - the US has a room of it's own).
Check out this YouTube video from MIM. The white-coated restorers are a little surreal, and this demonstrates only a minor part of their automated collection of tweeting birds, automatons and giant orchestral machines - a tiny part of everything you'll find here.

The variety is astounding, the depth and breadth of research impressive. But most of all, you will come away entertained, educated, enlightened, and yes, uplifted with the knowledge that wherever a human lives on the the planet, we all speak the language of music.
AND you'll have a new appreciation of the beauty of all sorts of instruments. Tickets run from $10-20, and the museum is open most days, with specially scheduled concerts.

Musical Instrument Museum

4725 E Mayo Blvd.

Phoenix, AZ 85050

(480) 478-6000 

https://mim.org/

Desert Done Right: The Four Seasons Resort Scottsdale

I have a thing for cool light fixtures

If one place could sum up a landscape, a state, an idea, it's the Four Seasons Resort Scottsdale at Troon North. It IS the showcase for the best of Arizona's mountain and desert landscapes. Walking through the doors into the main lobby takes your breath away as all of Phoenix spreads out before you, framed by massive wood beams and floor-to-ceiling windows. 

Lulled by the scent of sandalwood (yes, it's piped in, and one of many sensory delights here), you might make your way to the onyx bar (made from thin sheets of onyx lit from behind), or to the spa for a seasonal light and scent treatment in the steam room (this autumn it's magenta light and lavender steam). 

 OK, this is a five-star resort, and you would expect luxury casitas, multiple swimming pools, tennis courts, the works, and your expectations would be amply met. The sixth star at the four seasons is the setting. Nestled among ancient boulder-strewn mountains, the resort takes advantage of every view, and appreciates the unique flora of the desert - shapely cacti and other native plants - like nowhere else. It's a desert experience par excellence.

Another view of Proof

The casual eatery, Proof, is the kind of place anyone would feel comfortable dropping by for lunch in their hiking shorts. It's a cross between a sports bar and a soda fountain with upscale food (and prices to match). I had a super fresh lobster roll (seafood is flown in daily) that knocked my socks off (if I was wearing socks). The ice cream is made there and is  irresistible. Another indulgence are the pretzel nuts, a cross between a deep-fried donut and pretzel, slightly sweet, with a melty cheese dipping sauce. The salads are also great, and carry a considerably smaller guilt load.

High season tariff for rooms (that would be now) runs around $700, while late summer (it can get up to 120°) hovers around the $250 mark. Shoulder season is in between, literally.

Four Seasons Resort Scottsdale at Troon North
10600 East Crescent Moon Drive
Scottsdale, Arizona 85262-8342  
(480) 515-5700  

Down Home Wright - Taliesin

Every Frank Lloyd Wright space I've seen prior to this one has been built for someone else: private commissions like Fallingwater and the Kentuck Knob home in Pennsylvania, or public spaces such as the Marin County Civic Center in San Rafael, California. They we're designed and built to please others. Taliesin is all about Wright himself: it was built for and by him and his family as an escape from Wisconsin winters.

Every inch of the site reflects FLW, from the height and narrowness of his doorways and low ceilings (some of which were modified after his death to accommodate those taller than Wright’s 5’8”) to the use of cheap, plentiful building materials: local rock, sand, cement, canvas, and plywood.

Wright is often cited as the father of site-specific architecture; Tallesin is a fine example of that, and also very telling about the man. The impression is of a powerful personality, highly egotistical and self-referential, more interested in form than function. By Wright's own admission, he banged his knees more on his own furniture than anything else. The rooms are showcases for interesting, if somewhat awkward, furniture and seating arrangement angles. Views took precedence over comfort, as did the way the piece looked rather than felt.

Wright admired and used plentiful, available materials, evidenced by his appreciation of simple rocks, turned red by centuries underground or sun-blasted black for an equal amount of time. Apprentices - his students -  labored beside him to hoist boulders into cement and sand forms to create dramatic walls while all, including Wright and his long-suffering wife - lived in tents among the scorpions and sagebrush.

 


All the Wright-designed properties I've visited have significant structural flaws (often water-induced leaks), as does Taliesin. The relentless Arizona sun and dust have combined to weather the property, rendering it a bit shabbier than expected, though Wright's placement of viewing sites and water features remains flawless. His sound design in the small cabaret is nothing short of brilliant.

The school of architecture, which still exists today, was Wright's wife's idea - an income source that utilized the site and gave opportunity to the eager young students who saw the value in Wright's idea of creating human habitations as art that enhanced and blended in with the nature around it.

Don't expect a polished property - this is a desert dwelling in every sense of the word, as eccentric and unique as Wright himself. 

Taliesin
12621 N. Frank Lloyd Wright Blvd.
(if using GPS, the address is 12345 N. Taliesin Dr.)
Scottsdale, AZ 85259

http://franklloydwright.org/taliesin-west/