Grammy award winner Michael ‘Coyote’ Peach is out discovering interesting places with wondrous names to share during his one man show at the Sedona Heritage Museum on December 7.
Sedona AZ – The Sedona Heritage Museum presents Grammy award winning playwright and actor Michael Peach in a performance of his original show “What’s In A Name?!” on Saturday, December 7, 2019, at 1:30 in the afternoon.
Peach’s show features his unique blend of original cowboy poetry with a tongue-in-cheek look at Arizona and local history, also incorporating jokes, stories, and first person narrative.
This show both exposes and pokes fun at quirky Arizona places and how they got their names, among other amusing history-based stories and themes.
“Did the Aztecs settle in the Verde Valley? Is Coconino a Spanish term meaning “Chocolate Child”? Is losing a finger enough to get a place named after you? Are Courthouse Rock and Cathedral Butte suffering from an identity crisis? Did the Yavapai make fun of the Lone Ranger? Was a local town misnamed because of bad penmanship?” and, other asks by Peach.
Expect answers to these and more Arizona naming questions as Michael “Coyote” Peach tells his stories. Oh and, by the way, rumor has it that Mike himself uses an alias!
An award-winning actor, playwright and historian, Peach is especially good at bringing to life history and his subjects. But he isn’t afraid to also spin some tall tales, too. Informative and entertaining, Mike’s shows have long been a favorite of university, state and national parks, and historically-oriented audiences.
The show is about an hour long. Tickets are $6, with children under 12 free. Museum admission is separate.
The Sedona Heritage Museum at 735 Jordan Road in Jordan Park, Uptown Sedona, is open daily from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. The Museum’s exhibits include stories of area pioneers, movies made in Sedona, cowboy life, vintage vehicles, and antique orchard and fruit processing equipment demonstrations. The red rock home, fruit packing and tractor sheds, are listed on the National Historic Register.
For more information about Michael Peach’s original show or the museum, call 928-282-7038.
Ancestors? Headstones and their inscriptions can provide clues, telling us more about the person, their interests, or their hobbies. Explore the Grand Canyon Pioneer Cemetery and you’ll find many who appreciated the grandeur of the Grand Canyon in the 19th and 20th centuries. Here are a few of their stories.
John Hance was born in 1838 in Tennessee. After the Civil War he traveled west and settled at the Grand Canyon to try his hand at prospecting. When this didn’t work out, he became a trail builder, guide, and provided shelter for visitors to the Grand Canyon. Over time he became a legendary figure, telling stories of how he dug the canyon himself or how his horse could cross the canyon from rim to rim by galloping on the fog. His stories were implausible, but that was part of his charm, what was expected, and the added entertainment with him as a guide.
He led Theodore Roosevelt, who affectionately called him “the greatest liar on earth,” down into the canyon in 1903. In the early 1900s he was housed by the Fred Harvey company in exchange for telling stories until they had a falling out in 1914.