"Where do you get all of this stuff?" We get that a lot. The answer is always the same, "It comes from customers like you." Right now we're looking to fill our soon-to-open Recreation Exchange and could use team sports equipment. If you have basketball, baseball, football, soccer, volleyball or other team sports equipment that you no longer use, we'd love to see it come over our trade counter. Our other expanding area of need is musical equipment. We are looking for any and everything -- brass, woodwinds, strings, percussion, acoustic, electronic, accessories, you name it! If you check out our new musical instrument sections you'll see tons of guitars. Don't let that stop you from trading yours in. They sell quickly and we need you to restock!

The process for trading sporting, recreation and musical goods is the same as for books, DVDs, CDs and video games. Here's a quick refresher:

Congratulations to Cortez High School for winning the $15,000 grand prize in the 2012 Bookmans School Challenge -- our first ever high school winner! Over the past several months Cortez High School in Phoenix vigorously turned their attention and efforts to the School Challenge in a successful attempt to win the no-strings-attached, unique funding opportunity provided by Bookmans Entertainment Exchange. Manzo Elementary School in Tucson and Flagstaff Arts and Leadership Academy in Flagstaff are also big winners collecting $3,000 each for their deserving projects.

Rain or shine the Phoenix Blues Society will bring the best in Blues to Downtown Phoenix for Blues Blast 2012 this Saturday, March 10. Last year we saw the end of an era as at the Mesa Amphitheater; 2012 brings us a new tradition at the Margaret T. Hance Park. Phoenix Blues Society President Kyle Deibler says that the move was based on a few factors. "Easy access by car and light rail contributed to the choice of venue and we look forward to producing a family-friendly, secure event in the middle of the city with support from the Arizona Rangers and the Phoenix Police Department."

Studentst at Mount Elden Middle School (MEMS) who read for three straight hours this Friday will receive a free gift from Bookmans. We look forward to joining the MEMS students while they read, taking pictures and giving awards. The event, spearheaded by the sixth grade, benefits the school's literacy incentive program.

We do more than our share of reading around this place and curses to Kevin Hearne, Cherie Priest, Angela Knight, Cynthia Garner and Yvonne Navarro for making us desire immortality so that we might find the time to read all the books they've written. Where the Paranormal Hits the Pavement: Urban Fantasy at Tucson Festival of Books mediated by Mark McLemore gave us access to the Urban Fantasy writer's mind, which didn't pervert ours as much as one might think. Why? Because they are funny and unapologetic. Also because Knight curses like a sailor and our little brains haven't developed much since middle school.

We're using this photo of McLemore because we like pictures but don't want to show favor to one of the authors or violate the copyright of any images -- and also because Mclemore's money shot from Arizona Public Media is really sorta fantastic.

St. Patricks Day in Flagstaff is a fun affair, full of whiskey drinking, bagpipe playing, lovely ladies dancing and all kinds of rowdy snake-free joy! We have two hot picks for you depending on your taste. If you are young-at-heart and want to get crazy, we suggest the Knockabouts at Charlie's Pub from 6:30 to 10:30 p.m. Saturday, March 21. If you need to pre-funk, there will be whiskey tasting and bagpipes beginning at 6 p.m.

If you are more sedate, hate cover charges and are a true Irish whiskey snob, head to Uptown Billiards where you can get rowdy without the college crowd. The Fionn McCool Celtic Band, including recent Viola Award music award winner Kari Barton, will get going around 9 p.m. Slainte!

Meet Kathy Cano-Murillo, local award-winning artist and novelist. Known for her line of Crafty Chica products and celebrating her Mexican-American culture, Crafty Chica makes it her mission to share ideas to inspire. Through her love of glitter, art and writing she brings sparkle to the dry landscape of the Arizona desert. Kathy agreed to share with us news of her upcoming tour of Crafty England, finding inspiration and Waking Up in the Land of Glitter. Once we came down from our crafty-crush high, we were able to post that news here to share with you.

Her motto for life is, "Crafts, drama and glitter."

Who among us doesn't hail from a fractured family of some sort? Those families featured in Fractured Families in Fiction at Tucson Festival of Books moderated by Robin Shambach are fractured slightly more than average. Tayari Jones, Victor Lodato, Lisa Tucker and Diana Abu-Jaber discuss how they reveal secrets, share multiple perspectives to shape a story and use the role of place in their novels.

"May the odds be ever in your favor" this Ticket Tuesday because we are giving some boss tickets to the midnight premiere of The Hunger Games. We are beyond excited to receive these tickets from one of our favorite community partners Tower Theatres good for Friday, March 23. We have been fans of the series and patiently waited for the movie arrival. This long-anticipated film is based on the national best-selling book The Hunger Games, the first book of the trilogy by Suzanne Collins. The Hunger Games, Catching Fire and Mockingjay delve into the world of oppression, famine and war following the main character, a young girl named Katniss Everdeen, on her journey to the Hunger Games.

The Phoenix Film Festival is a week away and kicks off with the Opening Night Gala featuring the presentation of the Phoenix Film Foundation's Visionary Award, given annually to a key contributor to the community. Past recipients include Dan Harkins and Republic Media for their community outreach programs.

Spring is here and along with all the cleaning, dusting and the packing up of the winter clothes. Now is a great time to take a look at your finances. Join Waddell and Reed Financial Advisor James B. Maginnis at 2 p.m. on Saturday March 24 at Bookmans Speedway in Tucson as he helps you understand the wild world of money and provides steps you can take to achieve all the financial goals you have set for yourself.

Book lovers at Tucson Festival of Books (TFOB) enjoyed more than what took place under the white tents, grabbing an author for a signature and engaging in book chat. Festival organizers provided entertainment in the form of expositions and performances. One of the most anticipated performances was from Timothy Fort, the Kinetic King of America's Got Talent fame. As TFOB sponsors, we had exclusive access.

Not really, we had the same access as everyone else. Fortunately TFOB provides excellent access to everyone and we were close enough to the Kinetic King to take this photo of two of Bookmans' favorite young ladies with the Kinetic King on his first-day performance.

Tofel girls Lauren and Carlee pose with the Kinetic King. Youngest Tofel girl, Lexi was elsewhere at TFOB talking books.