Soundbites

A LONG WEEKEND OF MOVIES AND MUSIC

When former Tucsonan and UA grad Michael Toubassi—who
currently lives in Los Angeles and is the co-founder of the production
company Upstairs Film—set out to document Tucson’s music scene
several years ago, he probably wouldn’t have guessed what the project
would morph into.

Toubassi directed High and Dry, which covers Old Pueblo music
history from the late ’70s to about 2000. A cut of the film was
unveiled in 2005, as the opening event for Hotel Congress’ 20th
Anniversary weekend celebration. It was a perfect tie-in: Many of the
bands featured were already reuniting for the Congress event.

It all gave Toubassi an idea: Why not combine films about music
and/or the Southwest with corresponding live performances, and build a
festival around it? What is now called the Tucson Film and Music
Festival was born.

For a couple of years, the event coincided with Congress’ ongoing
anniversary parties—now called HoCo Fest. But starting last year,
the festival had grown to the point that it could exist as a
stand-alone event. Take a look at the ambitious schedule of events
planned for this weekend’s TFMF (tucsonfilmandmusicfestival.com),
and you’ll understand why. A few highlights:

Toubassi has designated three films as official selections of the
festival, which runs Friday, Oct. 9, through Monday, Oct. 12, at
a slew of locations around town. Friday night’s official
selection is Largo, a concert documentary filmed at the titular
eclectic Los Angeles nightspot that features performances by Andrew
Bird, Aimee Mann, Zach Galifianakis and Flight of the Conchords, among
others. Sunday night’s film is Rock Prophecies, a doc that
traces the career of music photographer Robert Knight from his days
documenting pre-fame acts like the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin, to
seeking out current young bands that he thinks could achieve a similar
measure of success. Sandwiched between the two is a Saturday screening
of The Sweet Lady With the Nasty Voice, a documentary about the
door-opening, legendary rockabilly singer Wanda Jackson. A huge
bonus: Later that night, at Plush, Jackson, who turns 72 on Oct.
20, will perform a show backed by locals the El Camino
Royales.

Other festival highlights include the Tucson premiere of The
Heart Is a Drum Machine, a documentary by Tempe musician
Christopher Pomerenke that features, among many others, John Doe, MGMT
and John Frusciante, trying to answer the question, “What is music?”;
Such Hawks Such Hounds, a survey of the past four decades of
American underground hard rock; the West Coast premiere of One Man
in the Band, which chronicles a number of, well, one-man bands; and
I Need That Record!, which documents the ongoing death of the
record store via interviews with the likes of Thurston Moore, Mike Watt
and Ian Mackaye.

Additionally, there will be screenings of short films and music
videos, plus more live performances, including shows by These Arms
Are Snakes, Le Chat Lunatique and The Quick and Easy
Boys.

Admission to individual events runs from $5 to $15, and an
all-inclusive pass is available for $40. Tickets may be purchased at
the Web site listed above.

SHORT TAKES

The TFMF is far from the only game in town this week, so let’s see
how many more worthwhile shows we can cram into this space, OK? OK!

Tom Walbank and Arthur Migliazza, two of Tucson’s finest
practitioners of their instruments—blues harmonica and jazz/blues
piano, respectively—celebrate the release of Burn Your
Bridges, a collaborative new CD, with a performance at Old Town
Artisans, 201 N. Court Ave., on Friday, Oct. 9. The show
begins at 7:30 p.m., and tickets are available in advance for $12 at
Antigone Books, Plaza Liquors and Enchanted Earthworks; by calling
319-9966; or online at rhythmandroots.org.

Instrumental Japanese post-rockers Mono (whose name I
recently learned rhymes with “oh no”), masters of the slow-building
crescendo, earlier this year released their fifth studio album, Hymn
to the Immortal Wind (Temporary Residence), which expands the
band’s sonic palette to include a chamber orchestra. Recorded by Steve
Albini, it is easily the band’s most ambitious release yet. They’re
joined at their Wednesday, Oct. 14, performance, at Club
Congress, 311 E. Congress St., by Athens, Ga.’s Maserati,
who open at 9 p.m. $8 in advance; $10 day of. 622-8848.

New York’s A Place to Bury Strangers, which trades in
atmospheric modern shoegaze and space rock, released its second album,
Exploding Head (Mute), earlier this week, and it’s a doozy. The
band’s penchant for noise has been moderated a bit by producer Andy
Smith (Paul Simon, David Bowie), who applies high-fidelity studio
tricks to the band’s layers of sound. It should appeal to anyone who’s
still waiting for that new My Bloody Valentine album. They’re at
Plush, 340 E. Sixth St., on Tuesday, Oct. 13, along with
openers Darker My Love and All the Saints, who get things
rolling at 9:30 p.m. Admission is $12. 798-1298.

After a brief hiatus, Monster Pussy, your 2009 TAMMIES
winners in the Punk category, return for a show this week that also
features L.A.’s Whitman (“one of the most intense, nonelectric
musical performances I’ve ever witnessed” sez Monster Pussy frontman
Mullarkey), a solo acoustic set from power-poppy Clark 8 (L.A.),
and the ever-charming locals Great Job. This one goes down at
Dry River, 740 N. Main Ave., at 8 p.m., Saturday, Oct.
10. Admission to the all-ages show is a fiver. For more info, head
to myspace.com/dryrivertucson.

Champaign, Ill.’s Heather and Nic Dillon, who began playing music
together in 2001 as part of Winter in Alaska and, later, under the name
Casados, eventually fell in love, got married and began performing
acoustic chamber-ish pop as You and Yourn. Their upcoming album,
It Would Make Things Worse (Parasol), scheduled for release on
Oct. 27, should appeal equally to fans of Iron and Wine and Simon and
Garfunkel. They’ll open for Forrest Fallows at an all-ages show
at The HangArt, 512 N. Echols Ave., at 8 p.m., Tuesday, Oct.
13. Admission is $5. Head to myspace.com/thehangartspace for further details.

One of the most lauded solo rappers to emerge out of the Wu-Tang
Clan collective, Ghostface Killah returns to Tucson for an
all-ages show at The Rock, 136 N. Park Ave., on Tuesday, Oct.
13, to support his new Def Jam album Ghostdini: The Wizard of
Poetry in Emerald City. Meyer Hawthorne opens at 8 p.m.
Tickets are available for $20 in advance at the Rialto Theatre; they’ll
be $22 on the day of the show. Call 740-1000 for more
information.

Local alterna-rockers Tongue Dried Sun will perform a pair of
acoustic sets at the Fox and Hound, 7625 N. La Cholla Blvd., at
9 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 10, to benefit St. Jude Children’s
Research Hospital. Admission is a minimum donation of $5, or you
can pitch in $20 for a VIP pass that includes access to a buffet in the
green room, a Tongue Dried Sun CD, a raffle ticket and a meet-and-greet
with the band. For more details, head to tonguedriedsun.com.

Finally, here’s a quick rundown of more good stuff: Margaret
Cho at the Rialto Theatre on Friday, Oct. 9;
SOJA at The Rock on Sunday, Oct. 11; Atreyu at the Rialto on Tuesday, Oct. 13; Big Band
Express as part of the Jazz in the Courtyard series at St.
Philip’s Plaza on Sunday, Oct. 11; A Day to Remember at the Rialto on Monday, Oct. 12; Jaguares at the
Rialto next Thursday, Oct. 15; Diamonds Under Fire at O’Malley’s on Saturday, Oct. 10, and The Depot
Sports Bar on Sunday, Oct. 11; Kittie at the
Rialto on Wednesday, Oct. 14; Jesse Cook at the
Berger Performing Arts Center next Thursday, Oct. 15; Viva
Tucson! Tejano Music Showcase at AVA at Casino del Sol on
Friday, Oct. 9, and Saturday, Oct. 10; Tito Puente
Jr. at UA’s Centennial Hall on Saturday, Oct. 10;
Dos Hermanos and Otherly Love at The HangArt next Thursday, Oct. 15.

This article appears in Oct 8-14, 2009.