Now that the din from New Year's Eve has subsided, let's rapidly descend back into the madness...
MARK YOUR CALENDARS...
Thursday, Jan 4: He has toured as a sideman with Orkesta Mendoza and Greenland's Nive and the Deer Children on lap steel and guitar. Tonight, Joe Novelli steps out front with The Cloud Walls. The sound? A genre-jumping hybrid of fuzzed out soul-rock, noir-folk, dirty-country and punk-blues. That's right. "Magdalene" is a runaway train on the brink of flying off the tracks. The rain comes pissing down at Tap & Bottle... I only "Smoke When I Drink," sang Kata Hay on her 2012 single. Singer-songwriter Hay is best known for being a contestant on The Voice (season 10). Drawing attention for locking lips with Christina Aguilera after revealing her childhood girl crush. Kata Hay & Dan O'Rourke are on the road performing their unique brand of indie-folk and will make a stop at Monterey Court...
Friday, Jan 5: Yo. Hip-Hoppers! This is sure to be a wickedly awesome event when Jae Tilt, Mike Check$, Marley B & Cash Lansky, Jivin Scientists and Jaca Zulu throw tight jams at The Flycatcher. Not to be missed... In 1962 a clean-cut Willie Nelson began his recording career with the release of his debut album And Then I Wrote (Liberty Records). Seventy-one studio albums have followed. Fast forward. Recently, BREAL.TV reported. "Blunts, vapes and pipes...were all there. And he would blaze them up back-to-back," recalls an incredulous Snoop Dogg of being outsmoked by country legend Willie Nelson. "This old motherfucker is gonna try and outdo me...and he really did!" Nelson also kicked Dogg's ass playing dominos. A trail of smoke may follow when Willie Nelson & Family ease the tour bus into the Desert Diamond Center...
Sunday, Jan 7: Cellist Julian Schwarz, heralded as a prodigy, made his concert debut with the Seattle Symphony at the age of 11. Now 26, Schwarz will make his Tucson Symphony Orchestra debut, performing Mozart: Symphony No. 29, at Catalina Foothills High School.
The program also features Adès: Three Studies from Couperin and Shostakovich: Cello Concerto No. 1. With Jessica Cottis at the podium... Also, Monterey Court will host a roots rock 'n' roll show featuring Michael P & The Gullywashers and Mike Hebert Prison Band...
Thursday, Jan 11: From Coachella to Carnegie Hall, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble kicks off Tucson Jazz Festival 2018. Hypnotic Brass are a genre crossing seven-piece brass powerhouse. Millions have heard their wicked amalgamation of sound, perhaps, without ever realizing. Their song "War" was featured in box-office hit movie Hunger Games. Right. Don't miss these "Bad Boys of Jazz" at The Rialto Theater... Guitarist/songwriter Rich Hopkins' work with the Sidewinders (RCA/Mammoth), during the '80s, and with the Sand Rubies (Polydor/Atlas) is at once a success story that lives on in Tucson lore and cautionary tale. In 1989, "Witch Doctor" climbed the rock charts to #18 followed by a second radio hit, "We Don't Do That Anymore," before legal entanglements and record industry machinations precipitated a break-up. After the fallout, Hopkins regrouped and formed Rich Hopkins and The Luminarios in the early 1990s. Hopkins will be celebrating his birthday at Tap & Bottle... With a penchant for melody and big fuzzy guitars, '90s alt-rock revivalists Bugg (Bloomington, Indiana) and Narrow Head (Houston, Texas) will crash down upon Club Congress. With Tucson shoegazer's Hikikomori...
HOT WAX...
Drenched in sweeping wah-wah pedals, wicked tambalero rim shots and a recurring keyboard riff snatched straight from a circus calliope, "Cumbia Del Paletero" crossbreds Peruvian cumbia with '60s psychedelic rock sure to set any dance floor afire. This track, along with 16 others, can be found on XIXA's latest digital release Bloodline Live. Known for their live performances, this album—recorded in Saint Nazaire, France at Le Vip—captures the energy of a touring band in full stride. Available on bandcamp... Always Be Quitting (Baby Tooth Records), American Monoxide's "too hot for digital" cassette-only release recently dropped. Those with a penchant for scouring the underground for something new may dig the shit out of this collection of minimalist/lo-fi trashy jams...
ON THE HORIZON...
In 2007, chanteuse Elizabeth Bougerol and bandleader Evan Palazzo met in New York City after responding to a Craigslist ad about a jazz jam session above a Manhattan noodle shop. Who would have known then that their 2014 album The Hot Sardines (Universal Music Classics) would debut in the Top 10, alongside Tony Bennett, and spend over a year on the Billboard Jazz Charts? Not I. Discover what the hot fuss is all about when The Hot Sardines vamp and sway at The Fox Theatre, as part of Tucson Jazz Festival, on Friday, Jan 12. Tucson Jazz Festival runs Jan 11-21. See tucsonjazzfestival.org for complete line-up and more deets... Out touring in support of New World (Lux Records), their first release in over 14 years, The Paladins bring their signature rockabilly/blues/boogie to 191 Toole on Saturday, Jan. 13. With Arizona Blues-Hall-of-Famer Mike Hebert Prison Band... Paste Magazine distinguished him as one of the "100 Best Living Songwriters." Painting vivid pictures with words and quaint Americana stylings Josh Ritter & The Royal City Band will perform at the Rialto Theater on Monday, Jan 15... Finally, the radness will overflow onto city streets, in this kid-friendly event, when Bisbee's The Exbats host a tape release party for their latest, I Got The Hots for Charlie Watts (Burger Records), Saturday, Jan 20 at D&D Pinball...
Until next week, XOXO...
