23 July 25th-July 31st, 2024 phoenixnewtimes.com PHOENIX NEW TIMES | NEWS | FEATURE | FOOD & DRINK | ARTS & CULTURE | MUSIC | CONCERTS | CANNABIS | FRI 7/26 FRI 8/2 SAT 7/27 SAT 8/3 SUN 8/4 THURS 8/1 COLD SHOTT AND THE HURRICANE HORNS DOORS: 7:00PM | SHOW: 8:00PM HOUSE PARTY R&B DOORS: 7:00PM | SHOW: 8:00PM A TASTE OF THE BLUES SMOKESTACK LIGHTNING, ROCKET 88S, BIG DADDY D & THE DYNAMITE DOORS: 7:00PM | SHOW: 8:00PM THE HAWTTHORNS RECORD RELEASE SHOW! DOORS: 7:00PM | SHOW: 8:00PM JIMI PRIMETIME SMITH BOB CORRITORE BLUES BAND WITH BRIAN FAHEY, YAHNI RILEY, JOHNNY RA DOORS: 7:00PM | SHOW: 8:00PM FOURBANGER AVENUE ARMY, THE SPACERS DOORS: 6:30PM | SHOW: 7:00PM ‘Feisty and Honest’ How the late Jana Bommersbach brought gravitas to Phoenix New Times. BY JIMMY MAGAHERN B ob Boze Bell remembers the first time he met Jana Bommersbach. “This was 1978, when everyone at (Phoenix) New Times was working out of the second floor of the San Carlos Hotel,” he says. “We had this little makeshift office that was kind of a converted hotel room. It was very jerry- rigged and seedy and wonderful.” Bommersbach, a legend in Phoenix journalism, died Wednesday at the age of 78. Bell, then the madcap cartoonist-in- residence at the fledgling alt-weekly, had heard rumblings that Bommersbach — at the time, the star city hall reporter at the Arizona Republic and a past president of the Arizona Press Club — was coming over to New Times. “The rumor was that she had defected and she was coming over to work with the hippies,” he says, with a laugh. The motley crew, which then consisted of little more than founders Mike Lacey and Jim Larkin and a shoestring staff of free-spirited writers and artists, did their best to look professional when Bommersbach came through the door. “So Jana sits right next to me and we hit it off immediately,” Bell says, recalling his delight at how naturally the respected newswoman bonded with the revolution- aries. “She was just so feisty and honest.” Bell, now the editor and publisher of True West Magazine, which he took over in 1999 and promptly hired Bommersbach as a columnist, also remembers the final time he worked with his friend. It was just last year, when the two spent a few weeks traveling the state to promote the 2022 book they had done together, “Hellraisers and Trailblazers — The Real Women of the Wild West.” “It was a pretty bumpy ride trying to put the book together, because we’re both real bone-headed Midwesterners,” he says, laughing again. “So we were at this book signing at Cattle Track in Scottsdale, and somebody asked, ‘Are you gonna do anything together again?’ And Jana, in her shy way, says, ‘I will never, ever do another book with Bob!’” He cracked up at the time, but just a few hours after learning of Bommersbach’s passing, he fights back tears. As happened so often in her storied career, Bommersbach’s instincts were once again exactly right. Those who worked with Bommersbach at New Times in the ’80s (including me) remember her as the fiery pro who imme- diately classed up the joint. “She did a lot to really establish New Times as a paper with hard news creden- tials,” says Andy Van De Voorde, who came on board as a music editor in 1983 and left in ’89 for Denver, where he wound up working as executive associate editor for New Times’ parent company, Voice Media Group, until retiring in summer 2023. “She came in as a very good hard news reporter, and she was taken seriously by people at other media organizations at a time when it was very popular to piss on New Times, you know, just to pretend it didn’t exist. Jana wrote stories that made it impossible for people to continue to pretend that New Times wasn’t a force to be reckoned with.” Sometimes her work ethic and tenacity could be intimidating to the other writers. “At New Times, we had a copy meeting every Monday to go over the upcoming issue and story ideas for future publica- tions,” recalls Terry Greene Sterling, who worked as a New Times staff writer from 1986 to 2000 before leaving to become an independent journalist, author and teacher. “Mike Lacey would sometimes berate lazy writers with weak story ideas and use Jana as an example of how to get out in the community and find stories that no one else had. She was always working her sources. On the phone. At lunch. At parties.” After she was named journalist of the year by the Arizona Press Club in 1983, the city’s literati began paying attention to the other writers on the New Times staff. Personally, my fondest memory of Jana happened at an Arizona Press Club award ceremony in 1985, where I had just won my first accolade for music criticism during a year when the paper took home a record 24 awards, more than any other newspaper in Arizona. Celebrating the paper’s streak at the after-awards bash, Jana — who, at the time, I hadn’t formally met — reached out her hand and dragged me onto the dance floor, which to me felt like being bestowed a royal honor: the unseasoned rock critic knighted by the investigative queen. It was a validation, a warm welcoming into the fold I’ve stayed in for four decades, largely because of that small gesture. Of course for Jana, it was probably just an excuse to get down to The Go-Go’s. “I totally relate. She was so encouraging that way,” says Dave Walker, who penned wildly comedic pieces for New Times under the moniker Cap’n Dave. “You know, I did this goofball stuff, and she was one of the people who encouraged me to, well, not be a goofball.” Walker now lives in New Orleans, where he writes for the Times-Picayune and has become a communications specialist and noted historian for the city’s museums. “Jana was at the forefront among the people who basically gave me a life in jour- nalism,” he says. “I had not really written before then, so I’ll always remember her for being so encouraging.” Walker also remembers Bommersbach’s spirited parties, particu- larly her renowned Christmas celebra- tions, which she hosted for the children of her friends. “It became this annual thing for all of our journalist friends who were starting to procreate,” Walker says. “And Santa would give out presents, and Jana would play the piano and lead everyone in carols.” At one holiday party, Walker met Winnie Ruth Judd, the notorious “Trunk Murderess” convicted of killing two Phoenix women in the 1930s, then The Phoenix New Times team in 1985. Jana Bommersbach is second from left. (Photo courtesy of Jimmy Magahern) ▼ Arts & Culture >> p 24