Moab Confluence Readings and Ramblings, Sat. Oct. 24, 2009

The 2009 Confluence Literary Festival in Moab, Utah was themed "Eating the West."
Slow Food Utah was a co-sponsor of this event.
These are a few photos from the event over the weekend of October 23 - 25, 2009.

Jack Loeffler Lore of the Land

Jack Loeffler is an aural historian, writer, radio producer and sound collage artist who was born in Parkersburg, West Virginia in 1936. He grew up in Ohio and Connecticut, and studied music at Julius Hartt Conservatory in Hartford, and Westminster College Conservatory in Pennsylvania.

During the 1950s and early 1960s, Loeffler was a jazz trumpeter who performed throughout the United States generally with jazz quintets. From 1956 to 1958, he served in the U.S. Army as a musician in the 433rd Army Band performing for military functions in southern California, or at atomic bomb tests at the Nevada Proving Grounds.

After moving to New Mexico in 1962, he spent several seasons as a fire lookout on Carracas Mesa overlooking the San Juan River watershed. In 1967, he took a curatorial position with the Museum of International Folk Art, and in 1968 with the Center for Arts of Indian America where he both curated the Navajo Traveling Exhibition throughout the Navajo Nation, and conducted field research among Huichol and Tarahumara Indians in the Sierra Madre Occidental of western Mexico.

In early 1970, he founded both the Central Clearing House and Black Mesa Defense Fund, environmental organizations committed to environmental activism, and preservation of indigenous culture within the context of native habitat.

He has continued his fieldwork with indigenous and traditional cultures throughout the American West, Mexico and the Cook Islands recording music and lore.

He has supported himself either with funding acquired through grants for his own projects, or by conducting projects for institutions including the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Institution, National Public Radio, the Museum of New Mexico, the University of New Mexico, the Western Folklife Center, the New Mexico Humanities Council, the Arizona Humanities Council, and others.

He has conducted field research among the Navajo, Hopi, Ute, Tewa, Keresan, Zuni, Chiricahua Apache, Tohono Oodham, Nez Perce, Yaqui, Seri, Huichol, Tarahumara, Mayan, and California Indians; and Hispano, Basque, and Anglo-ranch cultures.

He has conducted hundreds of field recording sessions of music, interviews, and the sounds of natural habitats throughout the southwestern quadrant of North America. His traditional music archive contains over 3,500 songs that he recorded on location to broadcast standards. Loeffler has recorded hundreds of chamber music, orchestral, and choral concerts ranging in repertoires from medieval to modern times.

He has conducted dozens of recording sessions that have resulted in LP record, cassette and CD albums. He has either produced or otherwise recorded, written and narrated over 50 soundtracks for documentary films, videos and museum exhibitions.

Jennifer Castle Hells' Backbone Grill

Hells' Backbone Grill co-founder and co-owner Jennifer Castle, reading from the book "With a Measure of Grace" which she co-wrote with Blake Spalding. Jen Castle and Blake Spalding are chef-owners of the highly acclaimed and award-winning restaurant, Hells Backbone Grill, located in Boulder, Utah, population 180 and one of the most remote towns in the United States.

Blake and Jen operate their restaurant following Buddhist principles, with a commitment to sustainability, environmental ethics, and social and community responsibility. They serve organic, locally produced, regionally and seasonally appropriate cuisine, growing many of their own vegetables organically in the restaurants two gardens and on their six-acre farm. They feature dishes made with fruit from Boulders heirloom orchards and rely largely on local ranchers for the natural meat they serve.

Hells Backbone Grill, now in its eighth season, enjoys one of the highest Zagat ratings in Utah and was selected as a Fodors Choice 2006 recipient. The restaurant was also named Salt Lake Magazines Best Restaurant in Southern Utah for 2007 and was awarded the prestigious Utah Governors Mansion Award for Culinary Artistry in 2006, presented by Governor Jon Huntsman. In 2005, Blake and Jen received an award from the Museum of Northern Arizona and the Center for Sustainable Environments for being Culture Bearers of Sustainability in the Four Corners Region. Additionally, Hells Backbone Grill was chosen as one of four restaurants representing Utahs Slow Food movement in an exhibit in the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C. The restaurant has been featured in O, the Oprah Magazine, The New York Times, Sunset Magazine, Bon Appetit, Organic Gardening, Outside Traveler, Travel and Leisure, Washington Post, Mens Journal, and National Geographic Traveler

Blake Spalding and Jen Castle are co-chef/owners of Hells Backbone Grill in Boulder, Utah.

Ann Vileisis "Kitchen Literacy"

Author Ann Vileisis discusses her book "Kitchen Literacy." In her books, Ann Vileisis explores nature, culture, and imagination through history offering insight to current issues and hope for the future.

Deborah Madison vignettes

Author Deborah Madison reads vignettes. Connecting people to the food they eat, its source and its history has long been my work, and writing is one way to reveal the deeper culture of food, whether through recipes or through profiles of farmers and ranchers, producers and cooks, and even a humorous book on eaters, called What We Eat When We Eat Alone. My interests lay with issues of biodiversity, seasonal and local eating, farmers markets, and small and mid-scale farming. I am on the board of the Seed Savers Exchange, have been involved with Slow Food for over a decade, and am presently co-director of the Monte del Sol Edible Kitchen Garden in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

David Mas Masumoto "Epitaph for a Peach."

Author David Mas Masumoto discusses his book "Epitaph for a Peach." David Mas Masumoto is an organic peach and grape farmer and the author of four books. A third generation farmer, Masumoto grows peaches, nectarines, grapes and raisins on an organic 80 acre farm south of Fresno, California. Masumoto is currently a columnist for and The Fresno Bee. He was a Kellogg Foundation Food and Society Policy Fellow from 2006-2008.