Thursday, March 12
"Honky-tonk ain't what it used to be/Somewhere along the way the lines got blurred." Guitars ablaze, Ryan Chrys & The Rough Cuts dole out their Southern fried, honky-tonk, backseat rhythm & blues for mass consumption. At Thunder Canyon Brewstillery... The glorious sounds of Rich Hopkins and the Luminarios permeate the air. At Tap + Bottle Downtown... From 1982's "No One Like You" to 1991's "Wind of Change" (a political anthem that coincided with the fall of the Berlin Wall), the Scorpions landed on the Billboard Hot 100 six times. From L.A., Lovedrive: A tribute to the Scorpions pay homage. In the Paradiso Lounge at Casino Del Sol... This edition of Ladytowne, your favorite local feminist variety/talk show, features a comedy set by Roxy Merari, interviews with Erikha Montes de Oca (BRXA), Chezale and Mother Tierra. Tonight's Sunshine supplies the music. At Club Congress... Guest DJs Toby Roberts, Nic and Hart lead the expedition into the EDM underground. Deeper pops off at Passé... Esteemed pianist Elliot Jones hosts Piano Bar Thursdays. Come sing along. At The Dusty Monk Pub...
Friday, March 12
On "Stains On My Supreme" they profess their love for the sizzurp (Sprite, cough syrup and Jolly Ranchers, also known as lean). Or is it full-blown addiction? "I'm rollin' so damn hard I cannot talk/All that lean, I'm a fiend." Shoreline Mafia stagger into Rialto Theatre... On "Washed (An Interlude to My Sanity)" vocalist Andy Chaves, spiraling out of control, faces addiction, "Now I'm gone, I don't know when to stop/I'm so lost, I'm just feeling washed.../I wanna feel good but I just feel fake." Tempe's Katastro flow at 191 Toole... Seanloui and the Black Roses, Silver Cloud Express and Grand Voodoo Band provide the music for the Bernie Sanders Southwest Concert & Townhall. At The Whistle Stop Depot... Southwestern Gothic soul shaker Just Najima and neo-soul/R&B singer Stevie Rose perform at The Boxyard... The Techno Alliance: v2.0 spotlights DJ Rolandø Hödar. At Solar Culture... Veteran Tucson musicians La Cerca, Joe Novelli & Joe Peña hold court at Sky Bar... DJ Remix presides over the LGBTQA disco dance extravaganza that is Super Gay Party Machine. At Hotel Congress... Susan Artemis tickles the ivories at The Dusty Monk Pub... "Sad music for sad people." Phoenix alt-rockers Dueño celebrate the release of Downer, their new full-length. At Wooden Tooth Records. Shoegazers Hikikomori add to the fiesta... Club Z sees resident DJs Low AudiO and ZAW drop house/techno. At Zen Rock... "Death to the Damsel." The dark contemplative songwriting of Caitlin Sherman channeled through her clear, haunting voice leads us to "Some Paradise Unseen." With the primitive folk rock, drawing from the underside of the American Dream, of Al Foul. At El Crisol... Conductor Manuel Hernández-Silva leads the Tucson Symphony Orchestra through Samuel Barber's Violin Concerto and more. At Tucson Convention Center... Mexican-Americana songwriting duo Mark Anthony Febbo & Oscar Fuentes present their genre-spanning, bilingual repertoire. At Sand-Reckoner Wine Bar... Rap-metalists Lethal Injektion return for a performance and live video shoot for single "The Truth." At Encore... With roots in Scots-Irish Appalachian folk, traditional bluegrass band High Lonesome are the featured artists at Marana Bluegrass Festival. At Gladden Farms Park. See maranafestival.com for all the details...
Saturday, March 14
"Damn Right I've Got the Blues." Born the son of sharecroppers in Lettsworth, Louisiana, this storied Chicago bluesman picked cotton for $2.50 per 100 pounds while learning to play the guitar on a primitive two-string diddley bow he made. By the 1960s he rose to become the house guitarist at fabled Chess Records. By bending new curves into a blue note, his innovative style influenced Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, Eric Clapton and many others. Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Buddy Guy is at Rialto Theatre... For their thirteenth studio album, The Gap of Dreams, these Irish folk traditionalists went to the hills of Donegal to capture the spirit of a time, before electricity, when folks would gather in the mists to sing and dance to a mystical music, elevating their spirits beyond the hardships of the day. Altan return to Fox Theatre... With tunes that manage to be "catchy, aggressive and ridiculously playful all at once," these San Diego surf punks come "Kicking Cans." The Frights bring Everything Seems Like Yesterday (Epitaph Records) to 191 Toole... Returning with their new album All Or Nothing—a record that reflects the excitement and cold sweats that come with change—these UK post-punks take a bold leap towards dance-pop. Shopping, with the guitar-less, avant-synth minimalists Automatic, are at Club Congress... For your alternative dancing pleasure, Shooda Shook It, United Snakes and Church Pants get "weird." At Owls Club... The futuristic, tropical house of Autograf leaves its distinct mark. At Gentle Ben's. With local support from Xochique, Alex Anders and others... Chris Peña makes 88 keys roar. At The Dusty Monk Pub... Lookin' for love in the all the wrong places: The Urban Cowboy Reunion show features country singers Mickey Gilley and Johnny Lee. At Tucson Expo Center... The Ruin, Aggressor and 6 Million Dead and others are set to destroy at RuinFest 2020: An annual dystopian celebration. At The Rock... Metalists War Of Ages unleash supreme chaos. At The Edge Bar... Rarity Rock Radio Residency features a live in-store performance by Rich Hopkins & Lisa Novak. At Hurricane Records... Food trucks, bands, vendors slinging goods all weekend. The Dirty T Flea/Punk Rock Market. At Steinfeld Warehouse...
Sunday, March 15
Fusing mod-pop with '90s alt-rock (a la Hole) and '70s post-punk, this "explicitly feminist" quartet self-describe themselves as a "genre-confused rock band" who feel displaced in this moment. From L.A., Girl Friday join forces with fellow Inland Empire surf-rock/psych-poppers Ariel View to leave muddy boot prints on the grave of the patriarchy. At 191 Toole... Comprised of Kofi Baker (Ginger Baker's son), Will Johns (Eric Clapton's nephew,) Sean Mcnabb and Chris Shutters, The Music of Cream perform the landmark album Disraeli Gears and other Clapton classics. At Fox Theatre... Led by vocalist/guitarist Santiago Casillas, Mexican indie poppers Little Jesus travel to the Norte to play on the Club Congress stage. Along with Southwestern psychedelic cumbiancheros Los Esplifs... Celebrating Irish heritage and culture, Katie's Randy Cat perform at St. Patrick's Day Parade & Festival 2020. At Armory Park... Boasting Arizona Blues Hall of Famer Mike Blommer on guitar, Tucson blues institution Bad News Blues Band perform at Sunday Blues & BBQ. On the plaza at Hotel Congress... The three members of Two-Door Hatchback perform masterfully on a number of instruments: Violin, upright piano, guitar, trumpet, clarinet, accordion. At The Coronet... Covering songs from the early days with David Lee Roth to the Sammy Hagar era, The Ultimate Van Halen Reunion Experience will set the night "On Fire." At The Rock...
Monday, March 16
Hard, with sharp edges, doom/sludge metalists Crowbar bring Sonic Excess in its Purest Form to Club Congress. With Concrete Evidence...
Tuesday, March 17
Disillusioned by the state of things, this Southern rock/country/blues singer-songwriter asks, "What The Hell Is Goin' On?" Paul Thorn puts hammer to nail. At 191 Toole... Reaching For The Bright, Seattle neo-funksters Biddadat are at Club Congress... From Tulsa, Oklahoma, indie/post-hardcorists Lilac Kings "Shiver." At Sky Bar... Pop rock/"epic" dance band, Tonight's Sunshine with Annie Jump Cannon, Guppy and Moontrax light Subspace ablaze...
Wednesday, March 18
Bearing the same name as a 5,300-year-old mummy found in the Tyrolean Alps, Oakland's dark post-punks Ötzi team with Swiss grungy psych-rocker Annie Taylor. Flanked by Tucson's own Taco Sauce and Feverfew. At Club Congress... Minimal and ambient, emotional, but not confessional and heavy-hearted and nostalgia-obsessed, Karima Walker, Claire Cronin and Advance Base present their unique songwriting styles. At El Crisol... This former marine can thank his "Lucky Stars" for his ascension up the Billboard country charts. Josh Gracin is at The Rock...
Thursday, March 19
Like a runaway locomotive, English dubstep producer/DJ Monxx plows the "Wonk Train" headlong into 191 Toole... Songwriters Namoli Brennet, Sabra Faulk and Mitzi Cowell perform In The Round. At Club Congress...
Shout Out
On St. Patrick's Day, Celtic-folk trio Desert Rovers celebrate the release of Hold My Head, their first EP. They share their love of Irish music at Club Congress...
On The Horizon
Saturday, March 21, sees prolific songwriter Robert Earl Keen at Rialto Theatre... On Tuesday, March 24, country and western singer Corb Lund rides into 191 Toole... On Wednesday, March 25, post-grunge/hard rockers Buckcherry get "Lit Up" at Rialto Theatre... And the Squirrel Nut Zippers swing into the Rialto Theatre on Thursday, March 26... ■
Until next week, XOXO...
