The Zona Gallery – Desert Juice Oasis

Went here with a good friend of mine to check out some live music. We were pleasantly surprised not only by the superb musicianship of Annie Moscow, but also by the Prickly Pear Tea, and it was pink! They served fresh healthy cuisine, and my friend ordered the «kale» salad, which she really enjoyed. The atmosphere, people and gallery were quite pleasant. What a great Saturday evening out on the town spent in Old Town Scottsdale!

I found Zona Gallery about 2 hours before heading to the airport. I was meandering around Old Town Scottsdale and the owner was kind enough to offer me some naturally sweetened pear juice. He took the time to show me all his artwork, and I was particularly blown away by his hand-​fashioned bonsai trees and flowering trees – they are made from newspaper and hand-​painted and are gorgeous! Talkabout renew, reuse, recycle! His paintings have an Old World, stained glass effect that are really pretty. He’s very involved in the arts community and sponsors various events… will definitely come back when I visit!

Well, I sampled the drum circle event here on Friday night. It wasn’t my idea and unless your into way aging hippies and amateurs like myself banging drums then it probably is not the venue for you. I thought this was supposed to a free ranging circle of love where we pounded our drums and the clanged the various musical items on display, but instead it turned into like an open mike night at the local coffee shop. You had a pony-​tailed dude singing some really bad music and another older woman in her karokee state of mind trying to do cover songs. The owner of this art gallery or queen of the circle even admonished me for not banging the drum supplied to her satisfaction. I responded by requesting she criticize the singer who thought he was working the room like he was getting paid to perform. Strangely, there was a tip jar nearby, which for obvious reasons remained empty. About 15 folks and also a family of four showed up throughout the 90 minutes I suffered through and for about 5 minutes, everybody seemed to have a good rhythm, but that fell apart quickly when the dude started singing. They had some overpriced juice on sale, but this event and crowd had one foot in the grave and was not a true drum circle like you would see on the beach with energy and excitement. There were several woman who were bare footed and spinning, but their prime was long gone.

My friend and I went there while we were waiting for a table for brunch and they have the coolest atmosphere in there! There is a lot of amazing art work and the owner even painted the walls himself. We had the fresh apple juice which was AMAZING and a vortex energy shot which was honestly the best thing I have ever had and you really felt the energy going about 10 – 15 minutes after taking it.