Soundbites

PHONE CHANGE

Soundbites recently received an e-mail from Gabe Palacios, frontman for TAMMIES Critics' Choice Best New Release runners-up Found Dead on the Phone, informing us that the band's singer/keyboard player, James Tiscione, has left town for China, leaving Found Dead to make necessary changes to their sound accordingly.

"We have been working, rehearsing to adapt to that change," writes Palacios. "We did not consider stopping, and musically, things were already shifting toward a more stripped-down, less-grandiose thing. We've been playing in Phoenix a bit and working on a new recording."

This week, you'll have two chances to check out Found Dead on the Phone 2.0: They'll be playing at the Chango Malo CD-release show at Club Congress on Friday, Aug. 17 (see the article on Chango Malo in this issue for details), and then again on Saturday, Aug. 18, at Che's Lounge, 346 N. Fourth Ave., along with Love Mound. That show is free and should get started around 9 p.m. For more information, call 623-2088.


WHAT, NO EMMET RAY?

Local guitarist extraordinaire Matt Mitchell hosts an evening of gypsy jazz this week, celebrating the music of Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli, who came to prominence in France in the '30s. In addition to Mitchell, performers include the Hot Club of Tucson, Ed DeLucia and Naim Amor and Marianne Dissard. The evening will culminate in a gypsy jazz jam, ostensibly with all participants joining in.

The gypsy-jazz tribute runs from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m., on Monday, Aug. 20, at the French Quarter, 3146 E. Grant Road. Admission is free. For more information, call 318-4767.


GET LED TO PLUSH

You've memorized all the songs; you've damn near worn out your DVD copies of the three-disc live set and The Song Remains the Same; you've grown your hair into long ringlets and stuck an armadillo down your spandex trousers. What else can you possibly do to sate your love for all things Led Zeppelin?

Well, let us tell you.

You can go see Whole Lotta Zep, Tucson's only all-Zeppelin, all-the-time rock 'n' roll band, comprising guitarist Pete Fine, singer Dan Connolly, Stefin Gordon on bass and backing vocals, and drummer Jeff Niece.

They'll be buying a stairway to heaven on Friday, Aug. 17, at Plush, 340 E. Sixth St. Opening the show at 9:45 p.m. is Love Mound. Admission is $6. For more info, call 798-1298.


THE IMPACT OF LOCAL MUSIC SCENES

A local screening of a new music documentary this week doubles as a live gig for a pair of bands.

The film is Towncraft, which is being released simultaneously in theaters, on DVD and online--but where's the fun in that, since Tucson is one of the towns that has been chosen to host the combo screening/concert? Via the story of the punk scene in Little Rock, Ark., the movie, according to press materials, "highlights the impact small local music scenes can have on their own communities and the music industry as a whole, by documenting the evolution of Little Rock's music scene from the early '80s, when a bunch of pre-teens put the town on the national map for punk music.

"Before the Internet, in the sleepy Southern town of Little Rock, kids as young as 12 years old exemplified the DIY, indie music spirit by starting their own independent record stores, music labels, booking their own acts, and establishing their own clubs. The children created a punk music scene that was, in many ways, comparable to those found in New York and Washington, D.C. In fact, Little Rock's punk scene garnered so much attention that national acts, such as Fugazi, rerouted their tours specifically to play concerts in the small Southern town that the kids organized themselves. Towncraft follows this group of kids over the next 20 years and looks at how their participation in their local scene continues to shape their lives, whether they still work in music or the arts or have moved on to other pursuits. ...

"Through excellent documentation using (hundreds) of hours of archival footage and interviews, Towncraft captures the ideology behind indie music and makes the argument that music can be a catalyst for bringing local communities together."

Sounds pretty intriguing, no? And to sweeten the deal, Phoenix-area-based Andrew Jackson Jihad and Ben Dickey will supply the live-rock portion of the proceedings.

It all goes down at 7 p.m., next Thursday, Aug. 23, at Dry River Collective, 740 N. Main Ave. Admission to the all-ages show and screening is free, but donations will be accepted. For further details, call 882-2170.


LOG DOWN UNDER

It's been so long since Tucson has been graced with a performance from Delta blues bastardizer Bob Log III that you'd think he moved to Australia or something.

What's that? He did move to Australia? Well, then, that explains it, doesn't it?

Give him the ol' Tucson welcome when Bob Log III returns to town for a gig at Plush, 340 E. Sixth St., on Saturday, Aug. 18. Rounding out the rootsy Tucson who's who are Al Foul and Tom Walbank, who gets things started around 9:30 p.m. Admission is $6. Call 798-1298 with any questions you may have.