THE TUCSON MUSIC SCENE’S BEST!
To misquote the great philosopher MC Hammer: Stop! TAMMIES time!
Next Thursday, Sept. 3, at a ceremony and concert at the
Rialto Theatre, 318 E. Congress St., the Weekly will
celebrate the 16th annual Tucson Area Music Awards, our
celebration of the best local music that Tucson has to offer, as voted
by you, our music-lovin’ readers. The event will kick off the Labor Day
weekend HoCo Fest helmed by the folks at Hotel Congress. (More on that
next week.)
You may remember that we changed the voting process last year; the
model worked so well we stuck with it this year. There were two rounds
of preliminary voting—one for readers, and one for a team of
critics made up of music writers, local club bookers, DJs and others
with intimate knowledge of the local music landscape. The top
vote-getters in each round were then placed on a multiple-choice online
ballot, and the ultimate winners were picked by readers from that
list.
Once again we received a record number of eligible votes in our
TAMMIES poll—almost 2,400—surpassing last year’s previous
record. Sincere thanks go out to all of you who took the time to vote;
it means a lot to us, and we couldn’t do it without you.
Of course, none of this would be possible without the hundreds of
local bands and musicians who provide us with world-class
entertainment, week in and week out, often for little recognition. The
TAMMIES is our way of saluting and thanking them, and we hope you’ll
join us next Thursday to do the same.
In TAMMIES tradition, the awards announcements will be interspersed
with a fine, diverse lineup of local acts performing brief live sets.
This year’s performers are the Holy Rolling Empire, Tom
Walbank, Sentido, Spirit Familia and Conner
Cecil. The 2009 inductees into the TAMMIES’ Tucson Music Hall of
Fame, Calexico, will also make an appearance.
Our special TAMMIES supplement, with stories on all the big winners,
will be available at the event and in the Sept. 10 Tucson
Weekly.
The ceremony begins at 7 p.m., but be sure to get there early, at
6:30 p.m., for Taste of the TAMMIES, in which local
eateries—including BrushFire BBQ, Cup Café,
eegee’s and El Saage—will provide free food on a
first-come, first-served basis.
Admission to this all-ages event is also free, thanks to our
sponsors, Parties Plus and the Chicago Music Store. Call the Rialto at
740-1000 or the Tucson Weekly at 295-4221 with any
questions.
GABRIEL GETS A LITTLE HELP FROM HIS FRIENDS
Gabriel Sullivan serves as bassist and singer in the American
Black Lung, which is often tagged as a mere hard-core band, but is so
much more—British Invasion, garage rock, pop, punk, metal and the
blues all find their way into the group’s sonic stew. He also co-fronts
the Fell City Shouts—once accurately described by local music
promoter Jeb Schoonover as an amalgam of the styles of Tom Waits,
Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Townes Van Zant—along with his
girlfriend, Brittany Dawn.
With the release of By the Dirt (Fell City), his debut album
under his own name (though he received help from plenty; more on that
in a sec), Sullivan has made the jump to solo artist. This week, By
the Dirt gets the full CD-release party treatment.
On the first listen, one might dismiss the album as mere homage to
the aforementioned Waits, but listen a couple more times, and you get
past it. Yes, Sullivan’s voice is all gravel and sandpaper; yes, the
musical bed upon which it rests is a fucked-up version of the blues in
many cases; and yes, the album is populated with hard-luck cases. But
focus on the songs themselves, and you’re in for a real treat.
“God’s Filling Station,” which opens the album, starts with a blast
of harmonica courtesy of Tom Walbank, before it settles into a warped,
loping groove. It’s one of those songs that sounds as if it could fall
apart at any second, but thankfully never does. (Sullivan sings and
plays banjo and bass on the track, while Rudy Bagdalini is credited
with “drums, auto parts.”) The album’s pull quote, printed prominently
on the jewel case, is, “We all live and die by the dirt,” and it comes
from the title track, a not-quite-ballad highlighted by Connor
Gallaher’s guitar playing and Marco Rosano’s clarinet work. “He’d seen
it all, his roots ran deep / But nobody cares what happens underground
/ He had old scissor eyes, they’d cut you down / And this old world
will never stop turning ’round / We all live and die by the dirt,”
Sullivan sings.
Brittany Dawn makes her first vocal appearance on “House Built on
Love,” and she provides the perfect foil to Sullivan: If Sullivan’s
grit is sand, she’s all sugar. Likewise, in the song, Dawn’s narrator
is pleading for her man, who makes his money away from home, to be more
present, while Sullivan’s narrator justifies it by explaining that he’s
just providing for her. It’s just plain lovely.
The album also includes two covers whose local authors were both
taken too soon: His take on Chris Gaffney’s (Hacienda Brothers) “The
Gardens” is weepy and gorgeous and has that timeless quality found in
so much of M. Ward’s work; and he fully inhabits Rainer’s powerful
“Life Is Fine.”
Put it this way: If Tom Waits released this album today, it would
leave his legion of fans drooling.
The album was recorded with Nick Luca and Craig Schumacher at the
Upstairs Studio and Wavelab “one and a half times,” according to the
liner notes—half of the album was accidentally erased and had to
be re-recorded. In addition to the previously mentioned contributors,
Mark Pierce, Arthur Vint, Ian Stapp, Joey Burns, Mike Hebert, Andrew
Collberg, Vicki Brown and Johnny Saczko, as well as Luca and
Schumacher, lent a helping hand, too.
Most of them will be on hand at the CD-release party for By the
Dirt, which goes down at Club Congress, 311 E. Congress St.,
on Friday, Aug. 28. Sullivan’s songs will be interspersed with
songs by his contributors—it’s a regular ol’ Tucson hootenanny.
Doors open at 8 p.m., and admission is $5, or $10 with a CD. I
recommend the latter option. Call 622-8848 for more info.
AT LAST: TIKI TIME!
If you’ve been by The Hut, 305 N. Fourth Ave., recently,
you’ve probably noticed that not-so-well-shrouded behemoth sitting out
front. It is, of course, the giant tiki head that for years called
Magic Carpet Golf home. The Hut acquired it when Magic Carpet went out
of business last year, and on Saturday, Aug. 29, The Hut will
celebrate the unveiling of the tiki in grand style, with a music
festival.
The action takes place on three stages: One at The Hut, one on
Eighth Street, and one at O’Malley’s (I’m guessing in the parking lot).
Doors open at noon, and the first act goes on at 4 p.m. Here’s the
lineup:
The Hut stage: Evy Llyan (4 p.m.), Big Galoot (6
p.m.), gHosT cOw (7 p.m.), the El Camino Royales (8
p.m.), Geoffrey J. (9 p.m.), Sand Rubies (10 p.m.), the
Kings of Pleasure (11:30 p.m.), The Tryst (12:30
a.m.).
Eighth Street stage: Shrimp Chaperone (6:30 p.m.), the tiki
unveiling with performances by the Mission Creeps, Flam
Chen and Chaz Cadaver (8:30 p.m.), the Martini Kings (10 p.m.), the Del Reys (11 p.m.), the 2 Tone Lizard
Kings (midnight), 8 Minutes to Burn (1 a.m.).
O’Malley’s stage: the Tone Monkeys (8 p.m.), Rasta
Sauce (9:30 p.m.), Elephunkus (10:45 p.m.), Black
Tuesday (11:30 p.m.).
Doors open at noon, and admission is $15. For further details, call
623-3200.
ON THE BANDWAGON
Blondie at Desert Diamond Casino on Tuesday, Sept.
1; Johnny Winter at the Rialto Theatre on
Wednesday, Sept. 2; Marcy Playground at The Rock on Saturday, Aug. 29; The Bled, I Bet It Was a
Massacre and AV at Club Congress on Sunday, Aug.
30; Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers at the Rialto on
Saturday, Aug. 29; Strange Boys, Mr. Free and the
Satellite Freakout, Mean Beans and Blankets at
Club Congress on Wednesday, Sept. 2; The Weight at
Plush on Tuesday, Sept. 1; the Voodoo Organist at
Club Congress on Friday, Aug. 28; Van Halen tribute band
Atomic Punks at the Rialto on Friday, Aug. 28.
This article appears in Aug 27 – Sep 2, 2009.