XOXO...

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Mark your calendars...

Thursday, March 1: [muf-uh-lot-uh] noun 1. A large, round sandwich native to New Orleans. 2. A funk igniting, dance inciting street riot. Sample the Muffulettas at Tap & Bottle... OK now, think Don and Phil Everly. On "Evangeline," Nicholas Horner and Lucas Chohany harmonize like monozygotic twins. "Don't you think it's a lot like you/Hiding behind every door/You've found yourself in a mess you made of paper hearts folded on the floor." Time travel to an innocent place with virtuosic acoustic folk duo Nick & Luke at Monterey Court. With Don Armstrong... A night of reminiscences awaits when Pure Prairie League and Firefall perform their chart topping country rock hits: "Amie," "You Are The Woman" and more. At The Fox Theatre...

Friday, March 2:Blues is about struggle, sadness and despair tempered by the redemptive voice of gospel. On "Kiss Of Death," Tinsley Ellis veers off menu and adds melodrama: "If I can't have you baby, I might as well drink gasoline." At 191 Toole... Out on their Music Over Words Tour. Frontman Leigh Kakaty says, "There is no separation from my life and my music." Their song "Trenches" was named Song Of The Year by Radio Contraband in 2013. "I've waited all my life to get out of the trenches." Wait no longer. Pop Evil set their shadow selves free at The Rialto Theater. With Black Map, Palaye Royale... They describe themselves as "genre transcending mutant rock." With washes of folksy psychedelia cloaked in blues rock, their latest EP Songs For The Blackbirds lives up to the claim. The exception being the title track; a beautiful fingerpicked acoustic instrumental. Denver's Flyin' Hot Saucers make a landing at The Dusty Monk Pub... He recently won the prestigious Guitar Foundation International Artist Competition. Xavier Jara gives a solo recital at UA's Holsclaw Hall... It's like stepping into the mythical Mojave Phone Booth to receive a call without having the slightest clue who will be on the the other end. So is the improvisational funky dance music of Mik and Scott. At Crooked Tooth Brewing... Shakin' booties since 1993. Funky Bonz at Saint Charles Tavern... Washington DC's Dead Meadow light up their Lovecraftian psychedelia infused stoner rock to The Flycatcher...

Saturday, March 3: "Hey Jesse/Now Jerome/Check it out." In the early '80s, their infectious soul-tinged funk rock, alongside Prince, defined the Minneapolis Sound. They lit up dance floors everywhere. Morris Day & The Time are just dying to show you their "Jungle Love." At the Desert Diamond Center... Loose devils Texas T Trash are gonna rip and tear during the Fourth Avenue Street Fair. With folk/Americana singer-songwriter Natalie Pohanic. At The Barn... Do you like to dance to salsa and bolero? DJ Pepe Galvez (of KXCI's Sabor Del Barrio) will man the decks for Latin Night. At La Cocina... In the early '90s, Tesla sold over 14 million albums. His latest solo album, From One Place To Another, Vol 1, is a collection of covers. Ranging from an awful version of Queen's "Your My Best Friend" to a sacrilegious rendition of The Church's "Under the Milky Way." Tesla's guitarist Frank Hannon has seen better days. At 191 Toole... Darkness visible. Deliverance absent. Portland post-punkers Soft Kill, Salt Lake synth-wavers Choir Boy and Tucson's The Shift (with members of Alter Der Ruine and Ensphere). At Club Congress... Dynamic percussion, soaring fiddle and pipes define the sound that catapulted Old Blind Dogs to prominence on Scotland's roots revival scene. At Berger Performing Arts Center... Danish EBM/industrialist Claus Larsen began performing as Leaether Strip in 1988—amassing a discography of over 100 releases. Stricken, their latest, drops this month. Recently, Larsen's husband Kurt has fallen upon hard times. Club Sanctuary is hosting a benefit, Don't Tame Your Soul, to help with medical expenses for Kurt's kidney transplant. DJs Plastic Disease, Black Flagg and NoirTech will spin. At Surly Wench Pub... According to Guinness Book of World Records Carl Terrell Mitchell, aka Twista, is the fast rapper on the planet. No joke. Twista can spit out 598 syllables in 55 seconds. Check this mad chopper at Club XS... It's an odd tradition. During World War II pianos were burned as a way to say goodbye to fallen RAF comrades. Trashed uprights and grands have also been incinerated to mark the vernal equinox. This year Miss Olivia and The Interlopers will provide the soundtrack during The 21st Annual Burn in the Bowl. At 7400 S. Avra Road... Austin's The Schisms bring their spooky gypsy horror-punk to town. At The Loudhouse. With locals The Distortionists and A Capital Affair... From Ivory Coast, Ibrahim Toure's (aka Général Tchefary) forebears struggled against French colonialism. In that spirit he embraced the hip-hop movement. Eventually deflecting to reggae. "Reggae is spiritual, says Toure. "It gives hope for a better world where people live in harmony without injustice." Reggae has become his life. Général Tchefary at Monterey Court... In "Goes Without Saying" folk singer Melaena Cadiz, after recently escaping NYC for the arid desert of Joshua Tree, muses. "It's hard to make a clean escape/It's hard enough to play it safe/Do you ever wonder, do you ever doubt?" With chanteuse Marianne Dissard accompanied by incendiary guitarist Conor Gallaher. The duo will perform songs from her album, The Cat. Not Me. In the listening room at Exo Bar...

Sunday, March 4: "Imagine two thousand years of samurais, shinto meditation and sake being built up and released." Feel the surge of energy when Yamato: The Drummers of Japan make your heart race. At Centennial Hall... The 25th Tucson Winter Chamber Music Festival begins today. This year's festival juxtaposes the familiar alongside unexplored compositions. Featuring the world-class artistry of Yura Lee, Bernadette Harvey, Romie de Guise-Langlois, Dover Quartet, Morgenstern Trio, The Romero Guitar Quartet, Emanuel Wehse and more. Reference arizonachambermusic.org for full details. TWCMFest runs through March 11. At The Leo Rich Theater... Singer-songwriter Jacob Acosta will perform at the Fourth Avenue Street Fair... Billed as a songwriter bonanza showcasing emerging talent. Indeed. Featuring Twain, Buck Meek, Karima Walker and Casey Golden. Matt Davidson (formerly of Spirit Family Reunion) aka Twain best expresses the spirit of the evening. "To me, songs outline a gospel that worships life." At Exo Bar... With Joy Division-esque ice-pick guitar tones and morosely despondent vocals, these Baltimore transcendental death-poppers ask existential questions, "What is love for most?/Is it killing all your ghosts?" Trunkweed will perform songs from their 2017 release Negative Universe at Club Congress. With The Desert Beats and The Rifle...

Monday, March 5: From funk to bluegrass, classical to jazz, ukulele master Jake Shimabukuro has taken the instrument to places that Don Ho (the icon of breezy Hawaiian pop) could have never imagined. At The Rialto Theater...

Tuesday, March 6: This legendary composer/pianist was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016. Now six decades into a storied career, "...few would dispute that Mr. Hancock has become one of jazz's chief emissaries," says The New York Times. UA Presents Herbie Hancock at Centennial Hall... At once quietly angsty, then distortedly brash, Detroit post-punkers Protomartyr with a William S. Burroughs narrative vocal bent "will try to reach you" at Club Congress... Classical guitarist Gabriel Ayala performs at a fundraiser to send Pascua Yaqui Tribe girls to Space Camp. Geoffrey Notkin, co-host of Science Channel's Meteorite Men will MC the event. At La Cocina... From Gothenburg, Sweden, Little Dragon bring their "dreamy, rhythmical, shifting, moody rainbow" electronic sounds to The Rialto Theater...

Wednesday, March 7: A few days after Trump took office, these psychedelic-country shoegazers took to building a studio in a barn, surrounded by cornfields, outside of Iowa City. They ate frozen pizza and recorded for 12 hours a day. The fruit of their labor: New Ruins, their second studio album. Candace at Club Congress. With Mute Swan, Cool Funeral and TWGS... Grammy Award winning jazz trumpeter Chris Botti blasts at The Fox Theatre... But, if hypomanic, hyperglycemic electro/house music bumping while cakes are being thrown from the stage (I kid you not) is more your thing? Producer/DJ/dance music phenom Steve Aoki is at The Rialto Theater. With Desiigner...

Thursday, Mar 8: For Bowie fans this event is de rigueur. Friends and erstwhile bandmates Mike Garson, Bernard Fowler, Earl Slick, Gerry Leonard, Carmine Rojas perform cherry picked songs spanning The Thin White Duke's career. Celebrating David Bowie at the Rialto Theater. With critically acclaimed artist Mr. Hudson and Joe Sumner (Sting's son)... He is a member of the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame. Best known for his work with prog-rock power trio Emerson, Lake & Palmer, drum virtuosus Carl Palmer celebrates the life and music of the late Keith Emerson and Greg Lake. At The Fox Theatre... Sweet Ghosts straddle the hinterland lying between that which is visible and known and the nebulous world of the dead. Performing material from their upcoming album An Endless Blue, the alt-Americana duo of Katherine Byrnes and Ryan Alfred will be accompanied by a cast of luminaries: Ben Nisbet, Gabriel Sullivan, Richard Katz and Winston Watson. At Club Congress. With the suave stylings of Amor Deluxe...

HOT WAX...

The second track on First Sunrise (Baby Tooth Records) is laden with brass accents and infectious theremin riffs. Yet, beneath the seemingly happy-go-lucky facade set by the understated, sun-kissed indie pop of "Mrs. Moonlight" lies yearning for inner stasis. "Mrs. Moonlight soothe my brain with your healing white light.../When I am feeling down you're up in the clouds." Bradford Trojan celebrates the cassette release of his second album with festivities. Friday, March 2. At Exo Bar. With Golden Boots and Mariachi Estrella...

ON THE HORIZON...

Imagine the music of rock goddesses Tina Turner, Janis Joplin, Aretha Franklin, Carole King, Carly Simon, Pat Benatar and Heart forming a chain of daisies with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra and a cast of singers on one stage? It all comes together in Grammy Award winning arranger Jeff Tyzik's new show Women Rock. Saturday and Sunday, Mar 10-11. At Tucson Convention Center Music Hall...

Until next time, XOXO...