Tammie Coe Cakes Coconut Cupcake in Arizona

Back in February I was on my way home from working my first music festival of 2020, Envision in Costa Rica. After nine days on-site in the rain forest/jungle, I had a six hour layover at Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix Arizona before returning home (five days later I'd fly out to Florida to work Okeechobee Music Festival, my second music festival of the 2020 circuit which inevitability was the last music festival of 2020). 

Ok, back to being at the airport in Arizona for six hours...my friend who hired me is the Director of Business Operations of Envision and he use to be a chef in Arizona. So, when I told him about my lengthy lay over he gave me recommendations on what I should eat and where. 

Coconut cupcake from Tammie Coe Cakes 

photo by Nikki DeMartini 

There are over 50 places to eat and or get coffee in this airport and most of them are located in Terminal 4. After eating an almost all vegan diet from on-site catering for over a week, the first stop I made was at LoLo's Chicken & Waffles for some chicken and waffles, then Sweet Republic for some ice cream. 

If you're my friend you know that I review cupcakes and this friend insisted that I get a cupcake from Tammie Coe Cakes. 

Don't gotta tell me twice. 

I have a huge sweet tooth so it didn't matter that I had already had ice cream plus I was there for six hours! 

After finding my gate and hunkering down for a bit there, I ventured around Terminal 4 in search of Tammie Coe Cakes. It's a tiny little location that is more like a kiosk and I almost missed it because it's not a bakery façade at all but rather a little convenient store of sorts. I'm happy I got there when I did because there was only two cupcakes left, one Coconut and one Red Velvet, each in their own individual, domed plastic container in true shop and go form. I appreciate that the Tammie Coe logo was printed on the cupcake's paper wrapper, that's something that you don't see very often. 

Even though I thought I was all tropical flavored out, I got the Coconut cupcake because I just wasn't feeling Red Velvet that day for whatever reason. 

Coconut cupcake from Tammie Coe Cakes 

photo by Nikki DeMartini

My plan was to save it for a mid-flight treat, giving it time to defrost a little bit since it had been refrigerated at the store. Typically speaking I prefer un-refrigerated cupcakes because the texture of the frosting is how it's intended to be and the over all taste of the cupcake is better, truer if you will. However I totally understand why Tammie Coe Cakes refrigerates their to-go cupcakes at the Sky Harbor International Airport because they will and do stay fresher longer. 

Coconut cupcake from Tammie Coe Cakes

photo by Nikki DeMartini

Even though I didn't eat it right away, I couldn't wait to eat the Coconut cupcake until we were up and en route to SF.  Instead, I ate it as I waited to board my flight home. The frosting and cake were really dense. The white vanilla cake was sweet with the right amount of buttery goodness. That and the fact that it was dense, leads me to believe that if it hadn't been refrigerated it probably would have been moist if/when fresh. 

The cream cheese frosting was sweet but not overly sweet and it was rich. I thought that it was buttercream frosting but alas it was cream cheese frosting. 

The shaved coconut which covered the frosting gave a subtle chewy texture to the decadent cupcake and it's hint of flavor that's reminiscent t of warm Sumer days added a nice tropical touch. Sometimes coconut can be over powering but nit this time. 

According to the website, it turns out that Tammie Coe Cakes only has three cupcake flavors to choose from: Coconut, Red Velvet and Ooey Gooey (chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream frosting and white chocolate shavings). I love the name, Ooey Gooey, it sounds yummy already!

Tammie Coe Cakes has one location in Scottsdale Arizona and two in Phoenix, one of which being in Sky Harbor International Airport. There couldn't have been a better way to end my rain forest/jungle adventure than the Coconut cupcake from Tammie Coe Cakes in the airport. If I ever fly through Phoenix again I want to try the two other cupcake flavors!

Karen O Rosé

This #womancrushwednesday goes out to the one and only Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. If you love rock N roll, punk rock, fashion and badass women what's not to love about Karen O?

Now there's more reasons to love her. 

Ashes and Diamonds' Karen O Rosé 

Yeah Yeah Yeahs @ The Fox Theater in Oakland 10/30/2017

photo by Nikki DeMartini

The front lady who's known for chugging and spraying fans with champagne while performing on stage has teamed up with Napa's Ashes and Diamonds Winery. She designed and hand painted 18 different original wine labels, each is on a magnum bottle of Ashes and Diamonds rosé, appropriately named Karen O Rosé. 

Karen O Rosé 

(this one reminds us of Gem and the Holograms)

Karen O Rosé 

(this one reminds us of Lady Gaga)

Karen O Rosé 

(this one has an Alice in Wonderland vibe)

The real kicker is that all proceeds of these super cool bottles goes to The Okra Project which supports the Black Trans community with meals and resources!

At $250 a pop, it's a pretty penny well spent. All of the Karen O Rosé is currently sold-out which is news that really makes our heart sing.
We reached out to Karen O on Instagram to find out if more Karen O Rosé will be available but she hasn't gotten back to us yet.

Karen O Rosé 

(if we had to choose one, this one would be our favorite)

It's great to see musicians we love using their voice to amplify awareness in times like this when it's really needed. Keep checking the Ashes and Diamonds website for more Karen O Rosé. 

Head over to The Okra Project website to find other ways to get involved and help because black trans lives matter! 

Musicians supporting masks to save lives & music

These last few weeks have really been an eye opener in so many ways. 

It's easy to see that it's not cheap to live a healthy life here in the United States. All you have to do is go to a grocery store and compare the organic to non-organic prices. Items on the McDonald's dollar value menu are cheaper than most store bought food and a lot more accessible to those living in low income communities. Furthermore, fast-food chains like devout Southern Baptist owned and operated Chic-Fil-A promote homophobia and the Christian run In & Out has shown their support for Trump by donating thousands of dollars to him over the years. We all know now what Trump supports but can everyone afford not to support these businesses?

As our country started reopening, the whole world saw a serge of COVID-19 cases across America simply because Americans refuse to wear masks. And the people who don't wear masks aren't getting tested for COVID-19 until it's too late (ie: they've gone around spreading their germs because they continue to go out with out a mask on not knowing they're infected therefore infecting other people). 

Did you know that the poor and minority communities are at greater risk? Not just of COVID-19 but every disease, especially infectious ones. Think about it. Health care, access to healthy food and clean drinking water, good living conditions/environments, those all cost money. Add being diagnosed, hospitalization, medication and everything that comes along with getting sick when you're poor, broke, struggling, unemployed, homeless...

Some people can't afford to buy a mask, provide their family with masks or wash their mask regularly and some people can but refuse not to (did someone say, privileged?). 

Now think about systemic racism. If you're a poor minority in the United States how do you get ahead and take care or yourself? How do we take care of these communities when the infrastructure in which we live doesn't want to take care of them? One of the easiest things to do right now, to help them against COVID-19, is to wear a mask.

 

musicians supporting Noise For Now + Seeding Sovereignty campain from left: Fiona Apple, TV on The Radio, 

Bon Iver, Kim Gordon and Alexis Kraus

Last week musicians like, Fiona Apple, Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth, Bon Iver, Alexis Krauss of Sleigh Bells, Cat Power, TV On The Radio, Fleet Foxes, Dirty Projectors and more started voicing their support for the Noise For Now + Seeding Sovereignty campaign. 

Noise For Now links touring musicians, promoters and local reproductive rights organizations in cities across the country and Seeding Sovereignty is an Indigenous womxn led collective working to shift social and environmental patterns from colonial institutions to Indigenous practices created in synchronicity with the land. 

A note from Noise For Now: "COVID-19 has exposed our country's chronic systemic injustices; rates of infection are rising in overburdened Indigenous communities who lack PPE, healthcare, running water and food. Meanwhile, politicians have used the pandemic to impose state-level restrictions on abortion access and forced temporary health center closures, making it even more difficult for many families to access care. This disproportionately impacts people with low incomes, people of color, and those living in extremely rural communities. 

 

Here's how you can help: for every purchase of a Noise For Now + Seeding Sovereignty mask or bandana, one mask will be donated to Seeding Sovereignty's Indigenous Impact Community Care Initiative for distribution to COVID-19 impacted Pueblos and reservations. Their masks and bandanas are sustainably made by Suay Sew Shop and can be purchased at noisefornow.org/shop. 

Cash donations will also be made to Seeding Sovereignty's mutual aid and abortion funds that serve Indigenous and undocumented people." 

Do you like live music? Do you enjoying going to concerts? Would you like to go to a concert at your favorite local music venue when it's safe to do so? The longer people do not wear masks, the longer the lock down will last. Concerts are one of few things in the last phase of re-opening and they were one of the first things to go at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The longer music venues stay closed the less likely it is they will re-open when they're allowed to do so (and when tours resume). 

Music venues are experiencing upwards of 90% revenue loss and will be closed well into 2021 due to safety concerns posed by large social gatherings. This effects the entire music eco-system: artists, talent agents, bookers, tour managers, artist managers, venue managers, venue staff, stage hands, security, catering, artist hospitality, tour bus industry, production, radio/social media/TV/print advertising, record companies and so many more have been un-employed for 4 months with no end in sight.

How can you help? 

1. wear a mask 

2. contact your Senators and Representatives and let them know you support NIVA 

(National Independent Venue Association) 

3.donate to NIVA

Don't know who your Senators or Reps are or what to say? Go to www.saveourstages.com, put in your info and they do ALL of the work for you: find your Senators and Representative, generate the email and send the email. They provide you with phone numbers to call, too! 

 It's as easy as wearing a mask. 

masks designed by The Kills 

Speaking of masks and NIVA, rock N roll duo The Kills have designed masks! All  proceeds from sales of masks by The Kills go to NIVA and the #saveourstages initiative which is helping to save independent music venues around the country who are struggling to keep their venues from permanent closer! 

Good news is that The Kills started selling their masks last week on their website www.thekills.tv and are already sold-out! More good news is that more masks from The Kills to support NIVA and #saveourstages will be on-sale again soon. 

In the mean time, keep fighting the good fight by wearing a mask, sending emails and making calls to save our stages. There's also NIVA merch for sale that helps their cause, too.

 I'd love to see you at show someday! 

Alison Mosshart of The Kills