Rita On The Road

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Broadcasting from the entertainment capital of the world, this is Rita on the Road in Las Vegas. I'm your host, Rita Pardue, on 91.5 KUNV Jazz and More. The mission of this program is to highlight the people that are the lifeblood of Las Vegas and provide resources to you. School may be out for kids in Southern Nevada, but the need for food never ends. Through the Summer Food Service Program, in partnership with the United States Department of Agriculture and the Nevada Department of Agriculture, helps children 18 and younger with access to food now to August. Parents, children, and teens can find a meal site near them by visiting inthesummermeals.com. I'll give you that website again at the end of the program. Today, Part 1, for everyone who loves the great outdoors, a conversation with Teresa Bell from the Sierra Club, Southern Nevada Chapter. On Part 2, Donnie Thompson from the Jazz Outreach Initiative, known as JOY, stops by the studio. Plus a bonus, we'll be playing for the first time a cut from the Joy Jazz Orchestra's latest CD called And That's That. And now, Part One. 91.5 Jazz and More, this is Rita On The Road. And today we're in studio with our guest, Teresa Bell. She's the volunteer coordinator with the Sierra Club. Welcome! Hi Rita, it's so nice to meet you. I have been looking forward to connecting with the local Nevada chapter. I was very active with the Sierra Club living in Southern California, going on hikes, but I also know there is an aspect

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of the Sierra Club that I want to learn from you today. Tell us a little bit of the history. Okay, so I am the volunteer coordinator for the Toiyabe chapter here in Nevada and the Toiyabe chapter has been around about 50 years and it covers all of Nevada and a little small section of eastern California. There's a little part there that sort of shares our geography So we have included that into the Nevada section. The Sierra Club itself has been around for, it was created in the 1890s. It was the very first environmental group. It is the longest environmental group in the country. And we have chapters in every single state and territory in the United States. So we've been around for a long time. We're very, we have millions of members. When we first started out, I, you know, our mission statement for the Sierra Club, John Muir was the first president. Yes. And he had been the president for 20 years. So when they decided that they wanted to create this club, it was kind of a hiking outdoors group. And so the mission statement is to practice and promote the responsible use of the Earth's ecosystems and resources, to educate and enlist humanity to protect and restore the quality of the natural and human environment, and to use all lawful means to carry out these objectives.

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That's why I wanted to be involved with the Sierra Club, because my love of nature and hiking, but that aspect of being an activist and preserving for our future generations. And John Muir, he really had a beautiful dream about doing this. So, as you mentioned about how large this organization is across the United States for locals that would like to get involved in hiking and also promoting and protecting the environment. How can our listeners

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get involved? So in the Toiyabe chapter which covers the whole state we have four groups and we do that so that we can get together with you know people in our local area and work on the aspects that we need to protect down in this area and do the activities that we like to do with each other. So we have a group down here in southern Nevada from Tonopah South and it is called the Southern Nevada Group. And so we do a lot of activities as a whole chapter, but then we really try to focus on the things that happen here in southern Nevada.

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So is there a website? Let's give out a website. So I know we're piquing the interest of a lot of people that love nature and even though we're here in the desert, you can share with us some of the events that you've been involved with in the month of June and what's coming up in the future months. So

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let's give out that website. Okay, so the website for the Southern Nevada group, you would go to sierraclub.org backslash toyabi. And on the toyabi page, you can click on Southern Nevada group. Because there's four groups, and so once you click onto that, it'll just tell you all of the activities and the things that we're working on and the teams that we have locally.

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Well, let's share with everyone some of the things that have been happening because what really got my interest was going to Mount Charleston to be able to do some trail cleanup. I was also thinking too, this has been a banner year. Explain to our listeners what President Biden did this year that I know it

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was a goal the Sierra Club was working on. We had been working for years in a coalition to create a national monument here in Southern Nevada called a Viqua May Spirit Mountain and it is a spiritual place for the local tribes. So this coalition had tribes, it had the City of Searchlight, it had the national parks, it had every group was really trying for a long time to create this huge national park. And so this March, the President signed into the Antiquities Act that created this national monument. So we're just now, the new thing that we'll be working on is how will we take care of this national monument, who will be in, who will take charge of it and those kinds of things. But it's a beautiful area. The largest Joshua trees in the country are in that area. It connects to California's Joshua tree, the bighorn sheep and the tortoises. It will make it so that their territory will connect. And so it's just been really wonderful. We've been celebrating it since December.

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Oh, I'm so happy. I am so happy about that. As you're mentioning that accomplishment, I think there's probably some other goals that are things that, especially with the future and teaching kids. And so do you have any sort of programs like that, educating the youth?

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Well, you know, we have a group that is called ICO, and that stands for Inspiring Connections Outdoors, and that's exactly, those words are the perfect words because that's what we're trying to do. We get kids and young adults into the outdoors that may not have been. They're city kids and they may not have the opportunity to go hiking, to go camping, go kayaking. And then a lot of times they even like to do the cleanups and they like to do the bird walks and a lot of different things like that. So we have that organization. And right now we are looking for additional outings leaders that might want to work with those kids. We're also, if you don't like to, you know, if you aren't a big hiker and you think, oh, this sounds like a great program, we have all kinds of other administrative and organizational parts of that where we collect donations, and then we work with schools, so we have to connect with schools and the Boys and Girls Clubs. You can find equipment and do a lot of administrative things that would help out with that if you're not really a hiking leader.

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This is great. I am so glad to hear about Inspiring Connection Outdoors, ICO. Let's give out that website again, because I know that's, you know, we're covering all the bases here, inspiring the young people to get out and hike. And a lot of times the students need to earn community service hours. So this might be a good option to be able to do that as well. So the website, let's give that out.

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So our website is sierraclub.org backslash toyabi and then go to the Southern Nevada group. You also can go directly to Inspiring Connections Outdoors. You can just type that in and it will bring you right to that.

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Well is there anything else, Teresa, I see our time is escaping us, that you would like to cover? Because there's so many aspects of what the Sierra Club's involved in. Not only the hiking, that's the part I love, but the importance, too, of the activism. And congratulations, that Spirit Mountain, that that has become a reality now, completing that.

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So besides the outdoor things, we do have a very big activist. We have many teams. One of the teams is our legislative committee, and they are just wrapping up from having finished the legislative session. They worked hard lobbying to make sure that we pass the laws that will help out our environment, and we have a political team that helps figure out who we should endorse that would be environmental champions, and we help them get elected. In the Southern Nevada group right now, we have actually a very new team that is an urban transit team, and we're looking at ways that we can use land and transit better so that we combine those two because we usually get an F in air pollution, and it's created from all of the cars, so we want to have clean public transportation accessible to everybody.

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I'm so glad the group is working on all of this. Well, thank you so much. We've been speaking with Teresa Bell, the volunteer coordinator for the Sierra Club here in Southern Nevada. And once again, we'll give out that website one more time. And the website is SierraClub.org backslash toyabi and then go to the Southern Nevada group. Thank you so much Teresa. Thank you Rita. 91.5 Jazz and More, this is Rita on the Road and we are in studio with Donnie Thompson, who is the Executive Director of Jazz Outreach Initiative. Donnie, so glad to have you here. Always great to be with you, Rita. Well, we've had other conversations, and I know you've been a big supporter of what we do here at KUNV, but for the folks that may not be familiar with Jazz Outreach Initiative, let us all know what the mission and how you got started with this organization.

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Well the mission statement reads that Jazz Outreach Initiative connects the language of music to the language of life through education, outreach, and performances. And so we are dedicated to utilizing jazz as a vehicle to reach all sectors of the community. Our base of operations includes little kids all the way up to senior citizens. We do most of our work primarily in the school district, working with young children.

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Wonderful. Who put this all together and got rolling with it?

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Well, this is the brainchild of two fellow UNLV music graduates, Kenny Rampton and Gary Cordell. Kenny, of course, world-famous trumpeter currently and for a long time with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Quentin Marsalis. Gary Cordell, of course, a fixture here in the music scene in Las Vegas, has been playing for decades and also has been a leader with the Musicians Union and other business operations as well, has also founded and helps run the TAPS organization here in town. So he's very community-based as well. And the two of them just really wanted to, frankly, give back to the community that had given them such a wonderful career.

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Well you mentioned about being involved with the schools and you have a program that you do within Jazz Outreach Initiative and I believe it's called Jazz Roots and you work with the students and I am such a children's advocate. So if you could share with our listeners about what Jazz Roots is about.

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Jazz Roots is one of more than a dozen really fantastic programs and frankly Jazz Roots is groundbreaking in the way that we structured it. It's a play on words, Jazz Roots meaning a way forward, right? And what we do is we have a partnership with Music and Arts, which is the largest instrument retail in the country, and then our community partners, business owners, donors, individual people that want to help us. And what we do is we solve the problem of students that don't have access to music instrument for various reasons, primarily being money. But, you know, there are a lot of nonprofits out there that do instrument donations to disadvantaged youth. But being musicians ourselves, we understand that the most expensive part of the instrument isn't buying it, it's learning how to play it. The music instruments are a couple hundred dollars sometimes, you can get one at a pawn shop even. But having the lessons at $50, $60 an hour, that's where you run into, I can't play this instrument. So we have Music and Arts providing the instruments at no cost. We have donors that come in and pay for the music lessons. It's just a wonderful symbiotic way for the entire community to work together.

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It is so beautiful. I've been to two of your ceremonies that you have when the student comes up on stage and they're awarded the instrument and a year's worth of lessons. That brings tears to my eyes. I love it. That is wonderful. Well, now, the exciting news of what's going on. You're performing the Jazz Outreach Initiative Orchestra. You're playing at Notoriety. So give us some details when that happens.

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Well, the face of our organization really is the Joy Jazz Orchestra is what it's called. is a fully professional big band, a 17-piece orchestra, plus a lot of times with Clint Holmes, which is, he's of course a legendary fixture here in Las Vegas and everywhere, really. We have this Joy Jazz Orchestra. We thought, you know, where do we want to do this residency, if you will? It's the first and third Wednesday of every month at Notoriety down at 450 East Fremont Street in the Neenopolis building right there on the Fremont Street Experience. We really wanted to bring back the old days for those that have been around for a long time. There used to be the Four Queens Jazz Night that they used to do down there. It was simulcast on KUNV, I believe.

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Oh my goodness, I used to go to that. Oh my goodness, when I was a singer in Jubilee, that was my hang going to the Four Queens for jazz and then to the Musician Hall.

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Right, right.

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We used to go down there too afterwards sometimes until 5 or 6 o'clock in the morning or later. I think I misspoke, it was KNPR that was the simulcast. Hopefully, KUNV can come in and do some simulcast for us at some time with the new gig. But we really want to bring this back downtown and create a vibrant big band jazz scene. And I'll tell you what, I've been to every one of these things and you know we've had Jonathan Karon is coming in on the 19th of July. Okay, so he's he's a part of our organization. He's a part of our Jazz Outreach Initiative Advisory Board Clint Holmes, of course another advisory board member comes in and out every once in a while We have Linda Woodson who's on our board of directors great local singer. She's coming in We just had Naomi Morrow, and so we bring in different talent to be with the big band, and sometimes it's just the big band, and it swings like crazy.

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Well, I am holding the CD in my hand, and folks, we've got a special surprise for you at the end of this interview. You know what, Donnie? You can be the DJ right now. Tell our listeners what cut they're going to hear, and composer, arranger, and soloist? Well the album is called A Joyful Noise with two

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Z's on the end, J-O-I-F-U-L, so again play on words from the Joy Jazz Orchestra and it's on all streaming platforms as well as available for download and you can purchase the the world CD with liner notes and photos and everything on our website jazzoutreachinitiative.org but where we're going to play today is And That's That, which is composed and arranged by fellow UNLV graduate Dennis MacKrell. All right. When he left UNLV, he was recommended by the great Joe Williams, who of course was a great Count Basie singer, and Joe recommended him to the orchestra, and he actually played drums with the Count Basie Orchestra, and I believe he even led it for a time. time and then the soloist on this piece is Jorge Magine who just graduated from UNLV, so another alumni. We're trying to really use this big band as a celebration of local talent. So we use local based composers and arrangers and everybody that's in the band is local of course. And so Jorge Magine, we're sad that we're going to lose him actually because he is going to go to Miami and get his doctorate in music. So good for him, sorry for us, but hopefully he'll come back and keep writing some music for us. So enjoy and that's that.

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You did great. I think you have a career as a DJ because my favorite DJs are the ones that give you the background and the information. So maybe a new career is on the horizon for you. Well before our time escapes us, you've got a fundraiser coming up and we want to know about some of the future gigs that are in the works. So fundraiser, when's that going to happen?

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Well of course, you know, first and third Wednesday of every month because we're a non-profit everything we do is a fundraiser. So come down to Notoriety, go to notorietylive.com and get your tickets. They're only $20 plus a little bit of tax. And so again, the 19th with Jonathan Courant, the first Wednesday we don't have a singer yet but it may be somebody or maybe just the band again. It doesn't really matter. We bring in great, great musicians. Then on July 29th we're doing a rarely performed Such Sweet Thunder written by Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn at the Starbrite Theater. Those tickets are available at the Starbrite Theater's website there on Sun City, Summerlin. Go to our website. There's a link there. The second half of that concert, we're going to celebrate the music of Joe Williams because the Joe Williams folks were generous enough to donate a $20,000 grant for us to help us continue our program. So we're very grateful to them and we'll do that. August we do a soiree. We're going to do another big dinner at Monzu on the 28th of November. We have a gig at Myron's with Clinton Holmes in October. December we bring back the Nutcracker Suite from Duke Ellington, which we always do every December at the Starbright Theater. And then February is Central Ellington, which is the biggest jazz festival in the country that's tied to Central Ellington and New York City.

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You all are so busy. Well, I want to thank you. Our guest has been Donnie Thompson, the Executive Director with Jazz Outreach Initiative. And as we close, let's give that website how people can get in touch.

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Yeah, so if we went really quickly, everything we talked about is going to be on our website, jazzoutreachinitiative.org or you can email us at info at JOI-LV.org. Thank

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you Donnie Thompson. Thank you. Enjoy and that's that. the the the the Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, so so Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, Oh, yeah so Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, so

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That cut was and that's that from the new Joy Jazz Orchestra CD. Thank you to our guests from the Sierra Club, Teresa Bell, and from the Jazz Outreach Initiative, Donnie Thompson. Remember, school may be out for kids in Southern Nevada, but the need for food never ends. Parents, children, and teens can find a meal site near them by visiting inthesummermeals.com. That's InTheSummerMeals.com. If you'd like to listen to this episode of Rita on the Road again, or share it with a friend, you can find the archived copy at kunv.org on the podcast page. Until the next time, this is Rita Pardue on 91.5 KUNV, jazz and more. Until the next time, this is Rita Pardue on 91.5 KUNV, jazz and more.

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1.5, KU, NV, Jazz and more.

Transcribed with Cockatoo