REMEMBERING SHORTY
Last week in this space, we paid tribute to Chris "Shorty Stubbs" Jones, beloved local musician, Raytheon employee and host of KXCI's Country Fringe program, who passed away at his home in Benson on Friday, Sept. 14. This week, more than a dozen local bands and performers--most of 'em residing on the country fringe--will gather to remember Shorty at a memorial concert.From 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. at The Hut, 305 N. Fourth Ave., on Sunday, Sept. 30, the following acts will perform in Shorty's honor (in order of appearance): Los Hombres, Nancy McCallion and Friends, Larry Armstrong and Copper Moon, Slim Rost, The Wyatts, The Dusty Buskers, The Wayback Machine, The Determined Luddites with Kevin Schramm, Al Perry and the Cattle, Cochise County All-Stars, Big in Vegas, Hot Club of Tucson, Family of Light and Kevin Pakulis with Ned Sutton.
Admission to this 21-and-older event is free, and attendees are encouraged to bring a dish to share at a potluck dinner on the premises. For more information, call 623-3200.
Also, please visit www.KXCI.org and click on "Shorty Stubbs" to read messages from friends and family from all over the country.
(Soundbites would like to personally thank Dan Hostetler and Elaine Schramm for the heartfelt and informative e-mails we've received from them on this matter.)
DOWNTOWN READIES FOR THE CRAWL
Holy crap, people: It's almost October, and we all know what that means. Next weekend, this very paper will once again sponsor the 2007 edition of the Fall Club Crawl™. On Saturday, Oct. 6, thousands of people will pour into the downtown/Fourth Avenue area to catch performances from dozens of local bands and artists, as well as several regional and national acts--the coup being an appearance from New York nerd-pop legends They Might Be Giants. All for the low price of an all-inclusive wristband.Due to construction (or destruction, as the case may currently be) of the Fourth Avenue underpass, organizers have had to tinker with the arrangement of the outdoor stages for this year's event, but they assure us they've come up with the best plan possible to accommodate the shindig. (A map and full schedule of the Crawl will appear in next week's issue of the Weekly and can currently be found at ClubCrawl.net)
For now, though, here's what you need to know. By picking up a wristband in advance, at any of the three local Bookmans locations, you will not only save a couple of bucks (wristbands are $8 in advance, $10 on the day of the event), but you'll also walk away with a free copy of Club Crawl™ Vol. 4, a 15-track, limited-edition compilation CD of local acts performing at the event. The disc includes songs by The Swim, The Holy Rolling Empire, Le Rev, The Mission Creeps, Thee Okmoniks, Seven to Blue, David D'Alessio, Kevin Pakulis, Geoffrey J. and the Hook, New Town, SKITN, Mostly Bears, Doubletop, The Provocative Whites and Mondigo--a little something for everyone, as they say. To ensure you get a copy, act soon; once they're gone, they're gone for good.
For further details about the Fall Club Crawl™, point your browser to ClubCrawl.net.
THE GREAT COVER-UP APPROACHETH
Also fast approaching is this year's annual Great Cover-Up, slated for Club Congress on Thursday, Dec. 6, through Saturday, Dec. 8. As always, we're hoping to make this year's event the biggest, bestest one yet, and if you're a member of a local band, we need your help to do so. To that end, we're currently accepting submissions to participate as part of this year's lineup.Just in case you have no idea what the hell we're talking about, here's a brief explanation of about what The Great Cover-Up is: Local bands that normally perform original material gather to perform a 20-minute set of songs by another band or artist. Simple enough, right? Because all proceeds from the door are donated to charity, no one will be financially compensated for their efforts. Your participation will, however, enrich your soul, and it'll be about the most fun you'll ever have donating your time to charity.
In celebration of the event's 10th anniversary (yes, we're sure this time), we'll be making some changes this year, to be announced in a future column. For now, though, here's one important change: We're wiping the slate clean of bands whose music has already been performed. In other words, there will be no "off-limits" list this time around--all acts are possible fodder for interpretation (except, of course, The Beatles; some traditions die hard).
If you're interested in participating, send e-mail with the following information: your band name, what type of music you normally play, your top three picks for bands you'd like to cover and a contact name and number and/or e-mail address. Additionally, if you have a scheduling conflict with any of the three nights (legit ones only, please), let us know as far in advance as possible, as this sucker is always a scheduling nightmare. The deadline for submissions is 5 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 26. Until then, we'll be waiting patiently at our inbox.
TUCSON: JAZZ CAPITAL OF THE WORLD?
This week brings us a couple of noteworthy jazz shows.The penultimate event in the Tucson Jazz Society's Jazz Under the Stars concert series takes place at 7 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 30, in the courtyard at St. Philip's Plaza, at Campbell Avenue and River Road. A slew of local jazz luminaries will take part in the annual SuperJam Jazz Festival, which this year takes place in celebration of the society's 30th anniversary.
The core band for the event includes guitarist Ed DeLucia, Fred Hayes on drums, bassist Scott Black and keyboardist Dan "Sly" Slipetsky, but throughout the evening, they'll be joined by the likes of vocalists Lisa Otey and Diane Van Deurzen, drummer Robin Horn, Hot Club of Tucson guitarists Allin Kibben and Matt Mitchell, singer/keyboardist Susan Artemis, and JazzWerx and Arizona Jazz Academy student bands. Making special appearances are SuperJam producer and guitarist Marc Cherry with TJS president and saxophonist Jeff Lewis; and TJS 2002 Lifetime Achievement Award-winner, trumpeter and singer Cass Preston, who will share the stage with keyboardist Larry Redhouse, saxophonist Mike Kuhn and trumpeter Jason Carder. According to Cherry, the show will encompass about 2 1/2 hours of jazz of many colors.
Advance tickets are available through the Tucson Jazz Society and all Bookmans locations; they'll also be available at the gate. Either way, tickets are $20 for the general public, $15 for TJS members and $10 for students. For more info, visit the Society Web site or call 903-1265.
Somewhere, Stephen Colbert is weeping, and Alec Baldwin is giggling. In a late addition to AVA's 2007 summer-concert series, the legendary jazz vocalist Tony Bennett, who cleaned up at the Emmys a couple of weeks ago, will perform at the venue on Tuesday, Oct. 2. The man born Anthony Dominick Benedetto recently celebrated his 81st birthday, so catch him while you can.
Tony Bennett hits the stage at AVA at Casino del Sol, 5655 W. Valencia Road, at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Advance tickets are available for $35- $85 at avaconcerts.com. For more information, call (877) 840-0457.
HOMECOMINGS
A pair of former Tucsonans' new bands will be playing two separate gigs this week.First up, Devastating Karate, of Venice, Calif., will bring to town its goofy, good-natured charm and humor, as well as a bunch of new tunes from its latest release, the Santa Monica Lawn Bowling Park EP (2007, Bad Radcliffe), which merges stomping country with power riffs that recall another former Tucson band, the Supersuckers. (Devastating Karate's singer/guitarist Nick Ratliff used to reside in the 85705.) They'll be at The Hut, 305 N. Fourth Ave., at 10 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 29. Admission is $3. Other details about the show are scant at press time, so call 623-3200 for more.
Then, next Thursday, Oct. 4, onetime Tucsonan Mark Matos brings a revamped version of his band, Campo Bravo, to Plush, 340 E. Sixth St. (In an e-mail sent to us by Matos, he describes the new band as "ridiculous. Pavement meets Black Mountain.") They'll take the stage at 9:30 p.m., first on a bill that also includes Haley Jane and headliners Luca. Cover is a fiver. Call 798-1298 for more info.
