The period of time covered in voting for the 2009 TAMMIES was May 1,
2008, through April 30, 2009. Here’s a look back at some significant
events from that time span.
May 2008
The Tucson Kitchen Musicians Association presents the 23rd annual
Tucson Folk Festival, featuring more than 100 acts, including a slew of
local artists and national headliners Marley’s Ghost, Ruthie Foster and
Billy Jonas.
Metallica is signed to headline KFMA Day, then drops out when the
station announces the band’s appearance too early. Lars and the boys
reconsider and wind up playing the festival after all.
Renowned blues guitarist and member of the Arizona Blues Hall of
Fame Danny Rhodes passes away.
Notable releases: Flagrante Delicto; Piss and Ink; gHosTcOw,
Vistas; Michael P., Hungry Like a Hound Dog; the Hounds,
Bonafied; the Distortionists, Coloring the Distortionists EP; Amy Rude, Heartbeast; Crossing Sarnoff, Lessons From the
Soul.
June 2008
After a decade of hosting Locals Only, the local-music radio
show he founded, on KXCI FM 91.3, Don Jennings passes the torch to “Dr.
Dan” Twelker. Jennings is feted with his farewell wish: an acoustic
performance by Chango Malo.
Golden Boots give collector scum everywhere hard-ons by releasing a
12″ that merges two of the band’s EPs, Coyote Deathbed Surprise and EV. Side A plays from the inside-out, while Side B has
double grooves that run parallel, which means that the songs you hear
depend on where you lay the needle down.
Notable release: Blue Collar Criminals, Kindred Spirits and
Unheard Cries.
July 2008
Founded by current and former UA students, Worry Dolls Records
releases Everyone! Everyone! Everyone!, a local compilation CD
featuring songs from … music video?, Young Mothers, Feel Good
Revolution and many others.
Synth-punks Digital Leather release Sorcerer, a half-live,
half-studio album, on Memphis’ Goner Records.
Notable releases: Tongue Dried Sun, Zero Hour; A Breath
Before Surfacing, Death Is Swallowed in Victory.
August 2008
The unofficial cultural-exchange program and all-around love-fest
between Nantes, France, and Tucson results in the “Some French Friends:
From Ouest to West, Nantes in Tucson” festival, which pairs local
acts—including Al Foul, Golden Boots, the Solace Bros. and Jeff
Grubic—with French ones, including French Cowboy, Katerine,
Françoiz Breut, François Ripoche, Dominique A, The French
Tourist and Papier Tigre.
The Tucson Weekly‘s 15th annual TAMMIES ceremony/show is held
at the Rialto Theatre. Big winners include the Wyatts (Band/Musician of
the Year), the Dusty Buskers (Up-and-Coming Artists of the Year) and
Mostly Bears (Best New Release). The Sand Rubies are inducted into the
TAMMIES Tucson Music Hall of Fame.
Neko Case and Crooked Fingers perform at a benefit show at the
Rialto Theatre for Tucson’s Greyhound Adoption League.
The Fourth Annual HoCo Festival starts at Hotel Congress, featuring
more than 40 touring bands—Meat Puppets, the Devil Makes Three
and Centro-Matic among them—and local acts, including Blackwood
and Co., Howe Gelb, the Deludes and Al Perry.
Mel Mason, host of KXCI’s The Road Show (and a Weekly contributor), organizes the third annual No More Homeless Animals Day
concert, which is held at the Udall Park Amphitheater and includes
performances by Courtney Robbins, Serpe, Jeremy Michael Cashman and the
Hounds.
Mostly Bears win the third round of the 2008 Zig Zag Live
competition, netting them a prize package worth $30,000.
Notable releases: Kevin Pakulis and Larry Lee Lerma, self-titled;
the Fell City Shouts, Music Is Medisin EP; Tom Walbank,
Sugarmama (vinyl-only LP); the American Black Lung, Good
Vibrations 7″.
September 2008
Giant Sand releases proVISIONS on their new label, Yep Roc
Records.
Calexico releases Carried to Dust on Quarterstick Records. It
will go on to be voted the Best New Release in the 2009 TAMMIES. Along
with Jimmy Eat World’s Jim Adkins and Mariachi Luz de Luna, they
perform at a fundraiser for U.S. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords at
the Rialto Theatre.
Clay Walker headlines the KIIM Country Music Festival at Tucson
Electric Park.
Tracy Shedd releases TAMMIES finalist Cigarettes and Smoke
Machines on Teenbeat Records.
The second annual Shorty Stubbs Memorial Concert, which includes
performances by the Last Call Girls, the Cochise County All-Stars and
the Determined Luddites, takes place at The Hut.
Pennywise headlines KFMA Day at Tucson Electric Park. Other
performers include Atreyu and Atmosphere.
Notable releases: Bricktop, Born to Brawl; AV, BeLIEve
Me; Greg Morton, When Pigs Fly; Evil Fudd, self-titled;
Marianne Dissard, L’Entredeux; Rich Hopkins and Lisa Novak,
Loveland; Molehill Orkestrah, Language of Bones.
October 2008
The Tucson Film and Music Festival, which combines live performances
from local and national acts with screenings of movies such as
Nerdcore for Life, Anvil! The Story of Anvil and Slide
Guitar Ride—a documentary about Tucson native Bob Log
III—takes place at venues all over town.
Chicago-based punk-rock marching band Mucca Pazza headlines the
Weekly‘s Fall Club Crawl®, which features more than 80
acts.
Frankie Bones headlines Dub Crawl, Tucson’s first electronic-music
festival. The event takes place at a number of downtown venues and is
the inaugural event at the new Centro Lounge.
The Southern Arizona Blues Heritage Foundation presents the Blues
Heritage Festival, a day-long affair at the DeMeester Outdoor
Performance Center at Reid Park that includes performances by the likes
of Rosie Ledet and the Zydeco Playboys, Stefan George and the Grams and
Krieger Band.
Notable release: Jo Wilkinson and Grains of Sand, self-titled.
November 2008
Community radio station KXCI FM 91.3 celebrates its 25th anniversary
with a series of events including the Local Folk for Local Folk
concert, an Al Perry-hosted surf-rock concert at El Casino Ballroom,
and a guest DJ stint each Tuesday for a month at (Weekly contributor) Carl Hanni’s Scratchy Records at The Red Room at
Grill.
Rich Hopkins holds the seventh annual Casa Maria Thanksgiving
Benefit, which raises funds for the local soup kitchen, at Club
Congress. Performers include the Jons, Leila Lopez, Triple Double Band
and Hopkins’ Luminarios.
Notable releases: Gaza Strip, All About the Lincolns; the
Kate Becker Project, self-titled; Ash to Dust, Circle of
Death.
December 2008
The 11th annual Great Cover-Up, which benefits the Tucson Artists
and Musicians Health Alliance (and which I help organize), is held at
Club Congress over three consecutive nights. About 25 bands, including
Spacefish, … music video?, the Static Session, and Mr. Free and the
Satellite Freakout, perform tribute sets to acts like Michael Jackson,
Flight of the Conchords and Cheap Trick. The event also marks the debut
of Sergio Mendoza y la Orkesta, who perform an homage to mambo king
Perez Prado. They quickly rise to become one of the biggest draws in
local music and win 2009 TAMMIES honors for Up-and-Coming Artist of the
Year.
KXCI FM 91.3 broadcasts its annual Sonic Solstice holiday
show, in which local musicians, including Nowhere Man and a Whiskey
Girl, Namoli Brennet, Space Over Desert and Caliche Con Carne, perform
live holiday songs, old and new.
Calexico performs at its annual year-end benefit for KXCI at the
Rialto Theatre, along with special guest Sergio Mendoza y la
Orkesta.
Notable releases: the Dusty Buskers, The Life and Times Of
… ; the Silver Thread Trio, self-titled.
January 2009
Almost 1,000 people show up at Whole Foods when Tool singer Maynard
James Keenan makes an appearance to sign bottles of his Arizona
Stronghold wine.
Over two nights at Club Congress, Chris Holiman hosts his
longstanding, annual Wooden Ball; performers include Sunday Afternoon,
Nick Luca, Marianne Dissard, Cheepness and Fish Karma. Proceeds are
donated to the Tucson Community Food Bank and its Community Food
Security Center.
Bluesman and former Tucsonan Sam Taylor passes away in Islandia,
N.Y., at the age of 74. His former violin player Heather Hardy hosts a
tribute show at Boondocks Lounge that includes other musicians who
played with Taylor, including Marx Loeb, Danny Krieger and Sabra Faulk.
Another tribute occurs in February.
Golden Boots release The Winter of Our Discotheque, their
second album for Park the Van Records.
Other notable releases: Jeremy Michael Cashman, Spine;
Mariachi Static, self-titled; J. Daniel Twelker, Recycled Love;
Sleeping Violet, Holding Back.
February 2009
The 17th Street Band, which features legendary bassist Harvey Brooks
as well as Tom Walbank, Arthur Migliazza, Darryl Roles and Tom Kusian,
releases its debut album, Positively 17th Street.
The fifth annual Tucson Gem and Jam, a three-night festival that
coincides with the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show and features
performances by national acts (Ghostland Observatory, Prefuse 73,
Greyboy Allstars, Mad Professor) and locals (Corbin Dooley, … music
video?), is held at the Rialto Theatre and Plush.
Sunday Afternoon drummer Ryan Janac organizes Bands for Breasts, a
three-night (and one-day) local music festival that takes place at The
Hut and boasts about 25 bands, including La Cerca, Love Mound, the Holy
Rolling Empire, Planet Jam and The Tryst. Some of the proceeds go
toward treatment for Janac’s mother, and the rest go to the Susan G.
Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.
Local percussionist Will Clipman’s album Pathfinder is
nominated for, but does not win, the Grammy Award for Best New Age
Album.
Idella, The Kingsfoil, Monterey, Soñar, Steff Koeppen and We
Draw the Tide are the finalists in the annual Arizona Daily Star Battle of the Bands for high school students, at the Rialto Theatre.
Monterey takes home the grand prize.
The Tucson Weekly celebrates its 25th anniversary.
Notable releases: Space Over Desert, Stjukshon EP; Rosano
Bros. Virtual Quartet, Live at Dante’s House; a Stands With
Fists DVD.
March 2009
Two years later than they expected, the Holy Rolling Empire finally
release Gigantis, the group’s long-delayed debut full-length
album.
Tucson native and comedian Craig Gass records a comedy special and
companion live album at the Rialto Theatre.
West by Southwest, a music festival that takes place intermittently
over several weeks at Solar Culture Gallery, Plush and Club Congress,
piggybacks on bands traveling to and from the South by Southwest music
conference in Austin. It features acts such as Viva Voce, Telekinesis,
Rafter, Say Hi, Delta Spirit, Elvis Perkins in Dearland, Bishop Allen,
Marnie Stern, Crystal Antlers, Monotonix and Jason Lytle.
Tucson resident Neko Case releases Middle Cyclone, recorded
largely at Wavelab Studio with Craig Schumacher, on ANTI- Records. It
peaks at no. 2 on the Billboard albums chart, just below U2.
Case moves to a farm in Vermont around the time of the album’s
release.
Other notable releases: Tony Redhouse, Deep Within; Blackwood
and Co., Bald as Love.
April 2009
After recording intermittently for three years with big-time
producer Ross Hogarth, Ryanhood celebrates the release of The World
Awaits with a near-sold-out show at the Rialto Theatre. They debut
a new song, “Will You Teach Us to Dance, Ellen?” which Ellen DeGeneres
later tweets about. Ryanhood goes on to become 2009 TAMMIES
Band/Musician of the Year.
Al Perry releases The Three Track Sessions EP, recorded with
legendary engineer Jack Miller on the same 1957 recorder used for Duane
Eddy’s “Rebel Rouser.”
The second Dub Crawl event takes place at Hotel Congress and
Maynards.
M. Ward and Rootz Underground headline the Weekly‘s Spring
Club Crawl®, which features about 100 acts scattered across stages
and venues on Fourth Avenue and downtown.
The Black Lips and TAMMIES finalist Mike Superhero perform at Zia
Records on Speedway Boulevard for national Record Store Day.
Bret Michaels and Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers are among the acts
taking the stage at the Pima County Fair.
Tucson resident and veteran jazz saxophonist Bud Shank passes away
two weeks before a scheduled performance as part of the Tucson Jazz
Society’s Jazz Under the Stars series.
The Provocative Whites begin selling promo copies of their Steve
Albini-recorded album EVOLYM, since they’re short on cash to
manufacture the album.
Nearly 32 years after the last concert held there, Jay-Z, Kelly
Clarkson, Third Eye Blind, the Veronicas and Ryanhood perform at
Arizona Stadium, thanks to UA student-body president Tommy Bruce. The
show loses nearly a million dollars.
Korn headlines KFMA Day at Tucson Electric Park. In 2009.
The Tucson International Mariachi Conference features the return of
a very special guest: Linda Ronstadt performs at the conference for the
first time in 13 years.
Notable releases: Cathy Rivers, Gloom Cookie; the Runaway
Five, Raygunomics; the Monitors, Two; 8 Minutes to Burn,
Giant Master Control Knob; the Besmirchers, Besmirch and
Destroy; Eb’s Camp Cookin’, Plain Green Wrapper.
Related Stories
TAMMIES: Community Connections
TAMMIES: About the Bigness
TAMMIES: Where the Music Takes Them
This article appears in Sep 10-16, 2009.