SOME ALBUMS TO MONITOR
That noise you hear is the sound of local albums dropping. A
lot of local albums dropping.
Over the next couple of weeks, loads of new CDs—including new
titles by Al Perry, Cathy Rivers, Ryanhood, The Runaway Five and
Verdant—will be feted with release parties.
And that’s not all. This week, The Monitors, a relatively new
local trio that features two members of the Ten Percenters and former
Nowhere Man frontman Vikas Pawa, will also release a new album,
Two. As with the group’s first album, the new one is available
for free download at the band’s Web site, or you can
purchase a CD that contains both albums.
As for Two, it contains a dozen new songs that draw
inspiration from The Police (“I’ll Breed Again,” “Spiral”) and Dinosaur
Jr. (“Concorde”), and use hard-charging guitar riffs in the service of
snappy pop songs (“Wear Me Out,” most of the album). Although they
don’t really sound like Weezer, I’d recommend ’em to anyone who thinks
that band jumped the shark following Pinkerton. Loud, chunky
guitar riffs and undeniable pop hooks? What’s not to like?
The Monitors celebrate the release of Two by performing in
between headliners Sketching in Stereo and openers Four Five
Six at Plush, 340 E. Sixth St., on Friday, April 3.
The show starts at 9:30 p.m., and cover is $5. Call 798-1298 for
more information.
COVER MANIA!
It’s not every day that a cover band can demand an audience large
enough to warrant a show at the Rialto Theatre—but this
week the venue is hosting not one, but two cover band shows, on
consecutive nights.
First up, on Monday, April 6, is Dark Star Orchestra,
a Grateful Dead tribute act that is even more obsessive in their
re-creations of that band’s music than Deadheads are about their bud.
The band doesn’t just play Dead tunes; it re-creates, down to each
individual solo, an entire actual Grateful Dead show, start to finish.
At the end of each show, the band announces which show they’ve just
performed, i.e., “That was Barton Hall at Cornell University, from May
8, 1977.” But that’s not all. From a press release about DSO: “The band
adapts their stage positioning, vocal arrangements, specific musical
equipment and instruments to fit the era of the show they are
performing”—so don’t even try that “wasn’t Bobby positioned at
stage left at the Cornell ’77 show?” stuff. DSO don’t play that.
Showtime is 8 p.m. on Monday, and tickets for this all-ages
performance are $24 in advance, $26 on the day of the show.
Then, on Tuesday, April 7, three local cover bands take the
same stage for a benefit for the Tucson Community Food Bank,
which needs all the help it can get right about now. Headlining the
show, in their debut performance, is Styxmania, a (you guessed
it) Styx cover band that includes guitarists Robert Nigro (as Tommy
Shaw) and Robert Beaver (as James Young), keyboardist Burt Diaz (as
Dennis DeYoung), bassist Rich Wirsing (as Chuck Panozzo) and drummer
Tommy Rat (as John Panozzo). Opening the show are ’80s cover band
80’s and Gentlemen and Led Zeppelin cover band Whole Lotta
Zep.
This one is also open to all ages and gets rolling at 7 p.m. on
Tuesday. Admission is two cans of food, or a monetary donation to the
Tucson Community Food Bank.
The Rialto Theatre is located at 318 E. Congress St. For further
details, head to the Rialto Web site, or call
740-1000.
MUSIC, ART, GREAT CAUSE
As long as we’re on the subject of benefit shows, here’s another for
your consideration.
Like most nonprofits these days, Wingspan, Tucson’s LGBT
Community Center, is hurting financially. And what better way to make a
donation to the organization than to take in a rare local performance
by R. Carlos Nakai, the Grammy Award-winner who has brought the
sound of the Native American flute to folks all over the globe? Nakai
will be accompanied by local percussionist William Clipman, who
himself was nominated for a Grammy this year.
The performance takes place at 7 p.m., Saturday, April 4, at
the Tucson Lifestyle Courtyard at La Encantada,
2905 E. Skyline Dr., Suite 152. Reservations are $75 and can be made by
calling 624-1779, ext. 121, or by e-mailing Mike Herdegen.
Admission includes a wine and hors d’oeuvres reception, and the
opportunity to buy works of art from the Pamela Laurence Collection
Gallery, which will donate 20 percent of its proceeds for the night to
Wingspan.
ROAD TRIP!!!
Music fans looking for a weekend road trip have a couple of
worthwhile options this week.
Old Bisbee Records and The Red Rooster Café present
The Good Medicine Show and Folk Revival, which will take place
at the site of the Café and Universal Ranch RV Park, in
Arivaca, at 15785 W. Universal Ranch Road. (Google Maps is the
best!) Billed as “a much-needed celebration of life and art in response
to our recent economic, social and spiritual struggles—a hearty
dose of good medicine we all could use,” the event starts at on
Saturday, April 4, and runs until 3 p.m., Sunday, April
5, and will feature performances by Molehill Orkestrah,
Flam Chen, The Dusty Buskers, Family of Light,
The Kate Becker Project, The Tangelos (formerly Joshua
Butcher and the Melancholy), Nowhere Man and a Whiskey Girl,
Merrily (of Fatigo), Dylan Charles and the Evolution and
Keith Allen Dennis. Admission is $25 per person for on-lot
camping, and $15 per person for off-lot camping. For more info, head to
the Show Web site,
or call (520) 398-9200.
Meanwhile, up in Tempe, the Circle K Tempe Music Festival celebrates its seventh year with two days of music.
The festivities begin at 5 p.m., Friday, April 3, and
performers for Friday night are Kid Rock, Roger Clyne and the
Peacemakers, Cowboy Mouth, The Outlaws and Pop
Evil. The action continues the following day, Saturday, April
4, at noon, with performances by 3 Doors Down, The All
American Rejects, Tom Morello: The Nightwatchman,
Mutemath, Shiny Toy Guns, Vayden, Tongue Dried
Sun, Wensday and Telescope.
The Circle K Tempe Music Festival takes place at Tempe Beach
Park, at the northwest corner of Rio Salado Parkway and Mill Avenue
in downtown Tempe. Tickets for the event are $45 per day, with
discounts for two-day passes. They’re available at livenation.com or by calling (800)
594-TIXX.
SHORT TAKES
Françoise Cactus and Brezel Goering constitute Stereo
Total, a sexy, French-German electro-lounge pop duo that hasn’t
visited Tucson in more than six years. They’ll headline a show at
Club Congress, 311 E. Congress St., at 7 p.m., Monday, April
6, that also includes Leslie and the LYs, the silly/funny
cult act that’s doing all it can to bring back appliqué
sweaters. Tickets are $10 in advance, $12 the day of the show. Call
622-8848 for more info.
Politically charged Canadian singer-songwriter Bruce
Cockburn, best known for his ’80s sorta-hits “If I Had a Rocket
Launcher” and “Lovers in a Dangerous Time,” arrives at the Rialto
Theatre, 318 E. Congress St., at 8 p.m., Friday, April 3.
Tickets to the all-ages show are $27 and $33 for reserved floor seats,
or $25 and $27 for reserved balcony seats. Call 740-1000 for
further details.
“Booginator,” a show featuring dueling boogie-woogie pianos
courtesy of Tucson’s Arthur Migliazza and Dutchman Mr. Boogie
Woogie, will take over Old Town Artisans, 201 N. Court Ave.,
at 7 p.m., Monday, April 6. Advance tickets are available for
$11.75 at Migliazza’s Web site.
The ickily titled Clam Jam II, featuring performances from
female-centric acts Mozart’s Sister, The Tryst and
Courtney Robbins, hits Nimbus Brewing Company, 3850 E.
44th St., at 9 p.m., Saturday, April 4. Cover is $5.
745-9175.
Canuck singer-songwriter Kate Maki, whose excellent new
album, On High, was co-produced by Howe Gelb and released on his
Ow Om label, opens for fellow Canadian folk-rockers Great Lake
Swimmers, whose new album, Lost Channels (Nettwerk), was
released earlier this week, at Plush, 340 E. Sixth St., on
Sunday, April 5. Tucson’s Andrew Collberg starts things
off at 9 p.m. $8 advance, $10 day of show. 798-1298.
Finally, in the man-do-I-feel-old department, April 5 will mark the
15th anniversary of Kurt Cobain’s suicide. To mark the occasion, the
Loft Cinema, 3233 E. Speedway Blvd., is hosting the Nirvana
Sing-Along, featuring subtitled live performances and videos by
Nirvana and other grunge-tastic acts of the era, as well as clips from
classic ’90s movies—subtitled for maximum sing-along action,
natch; 8 p.m., Saturday, April 4. $7 general admission, $4.75
for Loft Cinema members; 795-0844.
Rest in peace, Cricket.
This article appears in Apr 2-8, 2009.
Admit it – You haven’t a clue who Bruce Cockburn is. Right? If you had, you never would have resorted to using cliches like “politically charged” or “singer/songwriter” to describe him. And as for “best known for his ’80s sorta-hits…” – well, that may be true for you and too many others in this country, but the rest of the world knows better.
For starters, Cockburn, in a career spanning more than 35 years, has released over 30 albums. Of the hundreds of songs he’s composed, only a small fraction could be labeled “political” in nature. More important, you would have known that Cockburn is considered one of the finest guitarists in the world. A “virtuoso”, according to the New York Times. He is in a class all his own. It should also be noted that, in addition to his musical accomplishments, he is highly respected for his charitable and activist work. Just a few more tidbits:
He was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 2001. He was also made an Officer of the Order of Canada and has been the recipient of honorary degrees in Letters and Music from several North American universities, including Berklee and Toronto’s York University. His many other awards have included the Tenco Award for Lifetime Achievement in Italy and 20 gold and platinum awards in Canada.
Oh, well, at least you didn’t embarrass yourself by calling him a “Canuck”.
Admit it — you’re Canadian, aren’t you? Anyone that indignant about a single sentence aboot (sic) Bruce Cockburn has got to be a Canuck.
Unfortunately, space did not allow me the opportunity to share with our readers information about his prestigious Italian Tenco Award.
For the record, I bought my first Cockburn album 25 years ago.
Re: “Anyone that indignant about a single sentence aboot (sic) Bruce Cockburn has got to be a Canuck.”
Well, you’re half right. I am indignant that Bruce Cockburn merited just a single sentence (a lame and misleading one, at that), but no, I’m not Canadian.
And we’re all certainly grateful that space DID allow you to devote three paragraphs to that prestigious CIRCLE K TEMPE MUSIC FESTIVAL.
And we’re all very impressed that it took you only 10 years to discover Bruce Cockburn. Tell us, which one of those first 11 albums did you buy?
Considering I was barely a year old when he released his first album, I don’t think I did too badly by buying *Stealing Fire* at age 15.
Well, that at least explains the “politically charged” remark, and the citing of “If I Had a Rocket Launcher” and “Lovers in a Dangerous Time” as his “best known…. sorta hits”. Only Cockburn album in your collection, eh? (Ever hear “Wondering Where the Lions Are”?) In the U.S., that song was actually his biggest sorta hit.
Since you now admit to being familiar with only around 3% of Bruce Cockburn’s music, I believe that validates my original opinion. To wit:
You haven’t a clue who Bruce Cockburn is.
Right?
I said it was the first one, not the only.
Dude, we get it: You really, really love Bruce Cockburn — way more than I do. You win. Enjoy the show.
I said it was the first one, not the only.
Yes, I know “Wondering Where the Lions Are” and am aware it was his biggest charting hit in the U.S. But I’d also be willing to wager than more Americans know the two songs I cited better than that one, as those videos got an awful lot of airtime on MTV and the like.
Dude, we get it: You really, really love Bruce Cockburn — way more than I do. You win. Enjoy the show.
Jeez, I guess, I he proved he’s a bigger Bruce Cockburn fan than you, Stephen!
Argh, I hate my own typos almost as much as I hate it when fans of a certain artist have to prove they know so much more about that particular musician than everyone else does and were into that musician before anyone else was and generally love that artist more than anyone does.
The reader’s comments, IMHO, constitute a particularly toxic form of chauvinism that ruins what should be a beautiful thing: the shared love of music.
I probably should’ve stayed out of it.
Point taken, Gene, but I wasn’t out to “prove” anything of the sort. I certainly don’t claim to “know so much more about that particular musician than everyone else does”. My beef was that Stephen, who admits he is no fan of Cockburn’s music, should have done a little homework before dismissing a world-class artist as just another “Canadian singer-songwriter”….”best known for his …. sorta-hits”. I feel, and I believe rightly so, that Stephen did a great disservice to his readers. And wouldn’t you have to admit that his biased, insulting and ill-informed comments qualify as “a particularly toxic form of chauvinism”?
Cheers!
Man. Somebody needs a nap.