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Stjukshon: An Indigenous Reading Series
w/Laura Tohe, Kenneth Dyer-Redner, and Malo Jones & The Jonestown Band

Friday, December 6
7 p.m.
$5 Suggested Donation

The word “Stjukshon” is one of the ways that the Northern Piman term for Tucson can be written. It translates to “Spring at the foot of a black mountain.” Curated by Blackfeet tribal member, Bill Wetzel, Stjukshon is a reading series that seeks to celebrate the work of indigenous writers and artists working in a variety of creative mediums.

Join us for a night of stories, literature and music featuring award winning poet, Laura Tohe, talented fiction writer, Kenneth Dyer-Redner and eclectic singer/songwriter, Malo Byron Jones of The Jonestown Band. Materials from the artists will be available for purchase and signing after the event. Refreshments will be served.

Kenneth Dyer-Redner was born in Reno, Nevada and grew up on the Paiute-Shoshone Indian Reservation in Fallon, Nevada. After graduating from high school he moved to Texas and then Germany before returning to the reservation. During that two year span he began to read and write because "Life just didn't seem to make sense." He then attended the University of Nevada, Reno where he fought for the historic Nevada Boxing Club and eventually received a degree in English in 2009. After college he moved to Phoenix, Arizona with his girlfriend and daughter. Throughout his life he's held various jobs which include: fast food worker, furniture delivery, youth center assistant, office supply delivery, fruit picker, warehouse associate, construction laborer, busboy, valet attendant, recreation coordinator, and native support specialist. Presently he resides in Phoenix, Arizona with his wife, daughter, and newborn son. He writes fiction.

 

Laura Tohe is Diné.  She is Sleepy Rock clan born for the Bitter Water clan.  A librettist and an award winning poet, her books include No Parole Today, Making Friends with Water (chapbook), Sister Nations (edited), Tséyi, Deep in the Rock, and Code Talker Stories (oral history).  Her commissioned libretto, Enemy Slayer, A Navajo Oratorio made its world premiere in 2008 and was performed by The Phoenix Symphony Orchestra.  Plans are to expand Enemy Slayer into an opera.  She is Professor with Distinction in Indigenous Literature at Arizona State University.

 

 

 

 

Malo Byron Jones is a classic singer/songwriter with a gift for characterization and storytelling. He often steps outside the conventions of traditional blues to deliver ditties flavored with Americana, southern rock, burlesque, gospel, R & B and even country. Blues is merely the foundation. The end result is a style of music that draws its influences from not only blues and classic rock but from literary, religious and cinematic sources as well. The Jonestown Band was formed in 2011 by Trinidadian singer songwriter/bassist Malo Byron Jones. Guitarist Bill Sacks and Maggie Rickard are key players in a power trio with a classic yet unique sound. “The Last Days of Jonestown” is the debut album from the Jonestown Band. Released in April 2012, it is a series of lurid vignettes that depict the lives and experiences of a town that falls prey to the charms of Satan himself.