MUSIC FESTIVAL MANIA
Music festivals aren't exactly rare around these parts, but they're not all that common, either. So what are the odds that a single weekend, this one, would bring us five music festivals in the course of three days? Pretty slim, I'd wager—that is, if I didn't have information to share with you about five music festivals happening this weekend.
The biggest and best (my editor flogs me mercilessly if I don't say that) is, of course, the Tucson Weekly's own Fall Club Crawl®, on Saturday, Oct. 3, which takes over venues and stages all over downtown and Fourth Avenue, and features roughly 80 bands, both local and national. I'm not going to spend too much time telling you about this one, simply because there's an insert in the issue you're holding (or, if you're reading online, a mere click or two away at ClubCrawl.net) telling you everything you could possibly want to know. Gates open at 7 p.m., and you should pick up an advance wristband at either Zia Records location if you want to save yourself a coupla bucks: They're $8 at Zia, or $10 at the gates.
Although you can certainly dance to many of the acts playing at the Fall Club Crawl®, one genre the Crawls admittedly aren't so great at representing is dance music. And so, for the last few Crawls, local promoters have kicked off the weekend with Dub Crawl, an electronic music festival presented at Hotel Congress. This installment of Dub Crawl runs from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 2, and the schedule looks a little something like this:
Hotel Congress outdoor plaza (all lineups are listed in reverse chronological order): Hercules and Love Affair DJ set (nu disco, New York), Cowboy Mike (trance, San Diego), Sonario (Latin electro, Tucson), Tony Roberts and Corbin Dooley (live set with guests, Tucson) and R'Mani (cosmopolitan house, Tucson).
Club Congress: Lee Coombs (breakbeat and electro, London), Simply Jeff (breakbeat, Los Angeles), Mike Traylor (emotronic glam, Las Vegas) and Damian Mntle (dub, hip-hop and minimal techno, Tucson).
The hotel lobby will feature jungle from Tommy Tarzan, and drum and bass, dubstep and funk from Whiteboi, both from Tucson.
Advance tix are available for $8 at the hotel desk or online at hotelcongress.com; they'll be $10 at the door. For more information, head to hellaphat.com or blendevents.com, or call 622-8848.
Arizona Lotus sister stations KFMA FM 92.1 and KLPX FM 96.1 each have their own festivals this weekend, and both take place at the Pima County Fairgrounds, 11300 S. Houghton Road.
First up, on Saturday, Oct. 3, it's KFMA's Fall Ball, the station's turn to show off its "awesome" taste in music with this "killer" lineup: Rise Against (8:40 p.m.), The Used (7 p.m.), Flyleaf (5:20 p.m.), Misfits (4 p.m.), Paper Tongues (3:10 p.m.), Eyes Set to Kill (2:20 p.m.) and Fallborn (1:30 p.m.). Gates open at noon, and advance tickets are available for $30 at all Catalina Mart locations until Oct. 2. For the full scoop, head to kfma.com.
Then, on Sunday, Oct. 4, it's KLPX's turn to take over the fairgrounds with KLPX Fest (aka X-Fest), a celebration of the station's 30th anniversary—congrats!—that features a rather impressive lineup of dinosaur rockers. Here's your schedule: REO Speedwagon (9:10 p.m.), Styx (7:30 p.m.), War (5:45 p.m.), Eddie Money (4 p.m.), Ratt (2:20 p.m.) and Great White (1 p.m.). As with the Fall Ball, doors for this one open at noon, and $30 advance tickets are available at all Catalina Mart locations. For more info, point your browser to klpx.com.
Finally, we come to Catapalooza!, a benefit for homeless animals in Pima County. Why, you ask? Because according to Casa de Los Gatos, Arizona's largest no-kill cat shelter and the folks who are putting on the event, there are an estimated 200,000 homeless animals in Pima County. While admission to the two-day festival, which takes place from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 3, and Sunday, Oct. 4, is free (though donations of cat food, kitty litter and dog food are encouraged), there will be many opportunities to spread a little love in the form of monetary donations via kids' activities such as face-painting and cakewalks; artisans selling tons of stuff like candles and jewelry; a barbecue for both vegetarians and omnivores; a bake sale; firewood for sale; and raffles and silent auctions aplenty. It's also the perfect opportunity to adopt a furry new best friend, as discounts and incentives will be provided. Here's the schedule of performers:
Saturday, Oct. 3: Last Call Girls (3 to 5:45 p.m.), Nobody, et. al. (1 to 2:45 p.m.), Jacob Acosta (noon to 12:45 p.m.), Patricia Morrison (11 to 11:45 a.m.) and Johnny Cashew (10 to 10:45 a.m.).
Sunday, Oct. 4: Kevin Schramm (5 to 5:45 p.m.), Annie English (4 to 4:45 p.m.), Bright and Childers (3 to 3:45 p.m.), Denise Lane (2 to 2:45 p.m.), Songdog (1 to 1:45 p.m.), Johnny Cashew (noon to 12:45 p.m.), Kristie Cunningham (11 to 11:45 a.m.) and Barbara Crummit (10 to 10:45 a.m.).
Catapalooza! takes place at 10700 E. Tanque Verde Road, east of Houghton Road. For more information, go to casadelosgatos.org.
SOLAR CULTURE SHINES AGAIN
A couple of weeks ago, we told you about a few rather interesting experimental shows happening at Solar Culture Gallery, the art/performance space run by Steven Eye at 31 E. Toole Ave. This week, the good stuff continues in the same space with a trio of shows more geared toward indie types. You can read all about one of the bands, Former Ghosts, in our feature article by Gene Armstrong. Here's a bit of info about the other two.
David Bazan grew up with a pastor as a father and followed the same road of Christianity growing up. His band Pedro the Lion explored themes of faith over the course of four acclaimed full-length indie-pop albums and a slew of stray tracks. In 2006, he dropped the Pedro the Lion moniker and released a solo EP under his own name, and on Sept. 1, he released his debut LP, Curse Your Branches (Barsuk), which seems to attempt to reconcile his faith with his predilection for sin (or the predilection for sin of his narrators, anyway) and has garnered some of the best reviews of his career.
David Bazan performs an all-ages show at Solar Culture Gallery on Monday, Oct. 5. Say Hi opens at 9 p.m. Admission is $10.
Albuquerque-based duo A Hawk and a Hacksaw includes violinist Heather Trost and multi-instrumentalist Jeremy Barnes, who is perhaps best-known as the former drummer for Neutral Milk Hotel. The group specializes in mostly instrumental music informed by American and, especially, Eastern European folk music. In May, the pair issued its fifth album, Délivrance (Leaf), which, like its predecessors, has received excellent reviews.
A Hawk and a Hacksaw performs an all-ages show at Solar Culture on Tuesday, Oct. 6. Tucson's Chris Black, who has been writing original music for each of his recent shows (he wrote to tell us that he's particularly excited about the songs he's written for this one) opens at 9 p.m. Admission is $8. For additional information about either show, call 884-0874.
ON THE BANDWAGON
Pitbull at the Rialto Theatre on Sunday, Oct. 4; Dr. Dog and Jeffrey Lewis at Club Congress on Wednesday, Oct. 7; Looner at The Hut on Tuesday, Oct. 6; The Subdudes at the Rialto on Wednesday, Oct. 7; Charles Feelgood at Level Lounge on Saturday, Oct. 3; Mark Mallman at Plush on Tuesday, Oct. 6; The Runaway Five's first-ever acoustic show at The HangArt on Friday, Oct. 2; Marianne Dissard's tour kickoff with Courtney Marie Andrews and Mark Growden at Plush on Wednesday, Oct. 7; The Intelligence, Sad Horse and The Bugs at Club Congress next Thursday, Oct. 8; The Quick and Easy Boys at Plush next Thursday, Oct. 8; Flametrick Subs, Last Call Brawlers and the High Rollers at Surly Wench Pub on Friday, Oct. 2; Round the House at Auld Dubliner next Thursday, Oct. 8; Warren Teagarden at Shot in the Dark Café on Tuesday, Oct. 6.
