TucsonWeekly.com commenter AZ/DC wrote yesterday that he believes "readers will all benefit" if, as part as my second stint here at the Weekly, I stop writing about Insane Clown Posse or "mostly obscure 90's (sic) R&B acts." Sincerity can be difficult to read over the internet, but I can't imagine anyone would actually have a problem with '90s R&B coverage, so I'm going to assume AZ/DC, whoever he or she is, must be joking. So, onward with the paper's transition into a New Jack Swing fanzine!

Now after the cut, and inspired by AZ/DC, We Got Cactus presents Dan Gibson's ten favorite '90s R&B tracks, starting with number ten, in YouTube form above, Sparkle (ft. R. Kelly) with "Careful".

Nothing against our own lovable public broadcasters, KXCI, but one of my favorite things about the broadband internet era is the opportunity to listen to radio stations from around the world. In my previous stint here at the Weekly, I mentioned my love of Montgomery, Ala.'s Yo 107.1 (still a great station, especially now that they have a largely shouted ad from an establishment featuring "The Bad Boys of Used Car Sales"), but sometimes I want to hear new music that fits within the general "aging-hipster-determined-to-feign-relevancy" aesthetic I tend to enjoy and when I do, lately I've turned to Australia's Triple J (I think their style is to present their station name in all lowercase, but that looks dumb typed out, so there you go).

Three things I find quite enjoyable regarding Triple J:

1. The mix of music is really interesting, featuring music you might be familiar with (they play Macklemore's "Thrift Shop" quite a bit these days, as well as acts you might recognize, like Ben Folds Five, the xx and Hot Chip) and a ton of surprising Aussie acts like Cub Scouts (charming indie pop), Urthboy (politically charged hip hop that will please people who miss the 90's) and Flume (RJD2-ish electronic production with some rapping).

2. When a song including profanity is about to be played, there's a brief introduction warning people that they might hear "rude words" and if that sort of thing offends them, they should cover their ears or change the station. It's a charming turn-of-phrase, plus I still get to hear the swears in the new Kendrick Lamar single. Double win!

3. Based on hearing the weather reports, it appears that Australians refer to "partly cloudy" as being "under the cloud." I'm not sure why I find this so amusing, but I giggle every time it comes up.

3b. Really, if you enjoy alternative music (or whatever they call it now), you should check Triple J, either via their website or through the Tunein app for iPhones and the like. Maybe just try it during tomorrow's Democracy Now episode on KXCI or something. We're not having to still pretend we care about that show, right?

Well, apparently something is holding Rick Ross back — from performing in Tucson tomorrow night, that is.

The Maybach Music Group Tour — better known as the MMG Tour — scheduled for tomorrow night, Tuesday, Nov. 27, at the TCC Arena, has been canceled.

This afternoon, Live Nation, which was promoting the show, sent out a press release announcing it was canceled "due to scheduling conflicts." The show was to feature performances by Rick Ross, Meek Mill, Wale, and Machine Gun Kelly.

Refunds are available at point of purchase.

Tonight's must-see show is at Plush, with New Jersey's Delicate Steve headlining. Cy Dune, the new side project from Akron/Family's Seth Olinsky, and Discos play in support. Doors at 8:30, $6. The Weekly talked with Steve Marion of Delicate Steve.

Delicate Steve has gone from a conspiracy to a collective.

What began in guitarist Steve Marion’s bedroom as a first-time effort at writing his own songs, using just some old pedals he had and a couple borrowed instruments, has branched into a full touring band, ready to start making music together.

“The Delicate Steve sound was something that kind of came out of left field,” Marion says. “I’d always been playing guitar. When I was in other bands in high school, I functioned as the guitar player, not the songwriter.”

A fluid and powerful guitarist who excels in turning his instrument loose melodically, Marion replaces what would be typical vocal lines with his slide guitar. And so the new sounds he was exploring in his Delicate Studio would enter the world as Delicate Steve.

“It was a creative time in my life. I was in my room and decided to make my own music for the first time instead of recording another band or trying to be the guitar player,” says Marion, in a phone interview from a tour stop last week in Seattle. “I took pedals off the shelf I hadn’t played in five years. I had some tom drums I borrowed from a friend, I didn’t have a snare drum, I had a synthesizer I was borrowing. All of these things conspired to make the sound.”

Delicate Steve - "Redeemer"

Tucson MC Big Meridox celebrates the release of his new album Knuckle Rap tonight at Club Congress. The cover is $5 and the first 50 people get a free copy of the album. The show kicks off at 9 p.m.

The Weekly talked to Ox about what he calls his opus for this week's music feature, but also got this song-by-song rundown of the album:

1. Leap of Faith
"'Leap of Faith' is basically me taking a plunge into what I’m introducing you to. Let me jump off, let me take a step forward and submit myself to the masses. You get someone who’s taking a plunge off a building. He’s been involved with all this stuff in his history and he tries to impress everybody with the drug scene and tries to be a goon, tries to be part of a crew. But nothing really works until he takes that leap of faith and kills off his old self. "

2. Whiskey Breath
"That’s about getting grid of the old liquor habits. Everybody knows I love whiskey, but it’s about moving away from that drunken state, that liquid state. It’s getting rid of old."

Big Meridox - "Whiskey Breath"
Whiskey Breath from Javier Castillo on Vimeo.

3. Pipe Dream feat. SAVANT
"Along with my fellow rhyme constituent SAVANT (a Chi-Town based emcee) this song sends a message to those artists who think it’s easy to just enter this local scene with the same accolades as those who have persevered to build Tucson into what it is today. It takes more than performing a few Club Crawls, with dreams and aspirations of becoming 'the king of Tucson Hip-Hop.' There is no 'king' and for those who think it’s easy to just jump in and take over what moguls such as Isaiah, Jivin Scientists, Shaun Harris, Black 1 and myself have built... they are living a serious PIPE DREAM!"

4. Bamboozle
"You’re a fool for thinking that I care any more. I’m not worried about how I look in your eyes. Thank you for giving me props, I’m doing it so you can enjoy it, but if you don’t like it, don’t listen to it. "

5. Pen of a Titan
"'Pen of a Titan' is a mixture of a story about me and about what goes on in Tucson. I’m trying to bring it back to the 1990s boom bap hip-hop. With the video, we did the old-school Cadillac, we did the grimy streets of Tucson. I just wanted to capture that essence of hip-hop, that rugged feel."

Julie Reed is the creator of TucsonMama.com and co-publishes (with Mike McKisson of TucsonVelo.com) TucsonInStyle.com. She describes herself as a “terrible but enthusiastic” singer. She’s also an occasional Tucson Weekly contributor.

What was the first concert you ever saw?
Rick Springfield at the Concord (Calif.) Pavilion. I bought a souvenir baseball shirt, of course.

What are you listening to these days?
I obsess over songs rather than entire albums, (and) lately, a lot of cover songs and mash-ups: String Theory’s “Space Police”; Elvis Costello and Lucinda Williams’ lovely version of “Wild Horses”; Ben Folds’ “Twin Falls”; Elliott Smith’s “Thirteen”; and all the Johnny Cash/Rick Rubin stuff. White Stripes and Beastie Boys are current household favorites. Also, always: Will Oldham, Calexico, Tom Waits, Neko Case.

What was the first album you owned?
I begged my parents to get me Tony Orlando and Dawn’s album when I was 5. The first thing I bought with my own money was the 45 of “Undercover Angel” by Alan O’Day.

What artist, genre or musical trend does everyone seem to love, but you just don’t get?
Prog-rock.

What musical act, current or defunct, would you most like to see perform live?
Springsteen in the late 1970s, circa Darkness on the Edge of Town, in a small, sweaty club in Jersey.

Musically speaking, what is your favorite guilty pleasure?
The heart loves what it loves. Disco, one-hit wonders, sentimental ’70s pop—I feel no shame.

What song would you like to have played at your funeral?
Chris Von Sneidern should lead a sing-along of Bread’s “Everything I Own.” He does it better than David Gates himself.

What band or artist changed your life, and how?
Yo La Tengo, American Music Club, Richard Buckner. I can’t pick one. They entered my life when I was particularly receptive to music, and these felt, still feel, so beautifully, painfully significant and rich—great depth in the writing, and such intimacy in the music.

Figurative gun to your head, what is your favorite album of all time?
Five is the best I can do, sorry: Buckner, Devotion + Doubt and Since; Pixies, Come on Pilgrim; Dire Straits, Making Movies; Palace Music, Viva Last Blues.

What song should everyone listen to right now?
That “Wild Horses” cover is pretty amazing.

Rage Against the Machine's "Killing in the Name" is one of those raw, powerful songs that just sticks in your head, pounding, driving, and staying with you for hours upon hours—the kind of song that hooks you from the opening riff 'til the last "Fuck You," and does so with heavy, vaguely funky power.

So, how do the guys behind Rage Against the Machine remember it? Spin Magazine checked in with them to find out, finding out about the story behind the song's birth to the infamous Woodstock '99 performance where an American flag was burned on stage.

From Spin:

Did the label ask that the song be censored at all?

[Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello]: There was a musical discussion. My memory is that they thought the part where the song kind of stops, that that stopped the flow of an otherwise rampaging rhino of a song. And we disagreed.

[Garth Richardson, producer]: Their A&R guy Michael Goldstone called me up. He wanted us to cut the song down in half. I was on the phone with him and he said, "Hey guys, he wants those out." And they went, "Fuck you." And then Michael said, "Fuck you," and they said, "Fuck you," and there was this huge war happening. So I said, "Michael, the part has to stay in. It's a great part." And he fought us on it. But you know what? He lost, which was really good.

Morello: Before Michael Goldstone is disparaged as some sort of a record-company shill, trying to commercialize the band: He's the one that suggested that be the first single without editing it for lyrical content. We were all like, "Really, you want the first single to be the one that says, 'Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me,' 16 times, plus a 'motherfucker'?" And he said, "Yes." We were like, "All right!"

You can find the rest of the interview at Spin. Check out the Woodstock '99 performance after the jump.

I've never paid much attention to LCD Soundsystem, because I apparently hate good music, but I've been a Miles Davis fan since I first picked up a trumpet. Thus, this YouTube mashup of "New York, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down" and Miles Davis's "Générique" is spectacular. It's, without a doubt, recommended listening for your Monday post-lunch coma.

Enjoy—and if you want to try the mashup yourself, you can find the LCD Soundsystem tune here, and the Davis tune here. Just start up the Davis tune 32 seconds into "New York, I Love You...", and—hey, look at that! You're just like Girl Talk now.

[Youtube duet: Miles Davis improvising on LCD Soundsystem]

What is the first concert you attended?
Santana, the Caravanserai tour. Greg Rollie and Neal Schon had just left the band to form Journey, and Santana hadn’t replaced them yet, so the entire concert was all instrumental.

What are you listening to these days?
Whatever music I’m working on; Cheer-Accident, a wonderful music ensemble based in Chicago; the Swigs; the Mission Creeps’ new CD; Todd Rundgren concert videos; Bukka White; the Residents; Steely Dan; Frank Zappa; classical music on KUAT (FM 90.5) radio, and KXCI (FM 91.3) radio in general. Kidd Squidd has the best radio show on the planet.

What was the first album you owned?
The Beatles’ Yesterday and Today. That’s the one where they replaced the original butcher cover image and had to glue a different picture on the existing product due to public outrage.

What artist, genre or musical trend does everyone seem to love, but you just don’t get?
I can’t relate to what is passed off as country music these days. Give me George Jones, Johnny Cash or the first Hank Williams any day!

What musical act, current or defunct, would you most like to see perform live?
It would be a real treat to relive the experience of seeing Genesis with Peter Gabriel perform The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway.

Musically speaking, what is your favorite guilty pleasure?
Blue Öyster Cult.

What song would you like to have played at your funeral?
That’s easy—“Die Like a Dog” by Fish Karma! Or if anyone wanted to get more maudlin about it, they could always play “Turn of the Century” by Yes.

What band or artist changed your life, and how?
The Beatles. They permeated my existence as a child, and still do.

Figurative gun to your head, what is your favorite album of all time?
Brian Wilson’s Smile, edging out the Beatles’ Revolver by a nose.

What song should everyone listen to right now?
Genesis’ “The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway.”