DOWNTOWN DIGS: The Rialto Theatre, 318 E. Congress St., has the blues this week. On Friday, January 19, it's Steady Rollin' Bob Margolin, veteran of the Muddy Waters band, who uses his mentor's Delta slide-guitar style to deliver his own intense version of the blues. Margolin's latest release, My Blues & My Guitar (Alligator Records), is a fiery mix of traditional blues with a touch of swing jazz, finished with some old-style rock 'n' roll. You can smell the stale parfum and bourbon on cuts like "Last Time," and read the Burma Shave signs by the highway on "Movin' South." Blues goes Hawaiian with surf guitar on "My Old Friend." Steady Rollin' Bob's tour schedule has him busy 250 nights a year, fronting his own trio as well as opening for the likes of B.B. King, Dr. John and Little Feat. Be there at 9 p.m. when Margolin takes the stage. Tickets are $5. On Saturday, January 20, The Rialto is hosting an open house for Downtown Saturday Night with Houston bluesmen Jerry Lightfoot & The Essentials, who have toured Texas extensively and are now on the road looking to expand their audience. Lightfoot has played with greats including Albert Collins, Albert King, John Lee Hooker, Bo Diddley and Mighty Joe Young. The Houston Press broke with tradition to vote Lightfoot's "Walkin' With Colleen" their choice for 1995 Song of the Year, the first time the readers selected an instrumental to receive that particular award. The award-winning song appears on their most recent CD, Burning Desire (Connor Ray Records), which also marks their national debut. The album represents countless performances in front of many different audiences to realize his strengths and develop a style that pays a respectful nod in the direction of his musical heroes without becoming an imitation. Admission is free, though access is regrettably limited to blues fans 21 and over. The folks renovating the old theater are opening the house for all to stop in for a drink, a song and to see how the theater renovation is coming along. Show time is 9 p.m. "We thought that this would be a good way to introduce ourselves to people who hadn't yet visited the Rialto," partner Jeb Schoonover told me long distance from Nashville. And finally, The Fabulous Thunderbirds roar into the Rialto at 8 p.m. Wednesday, January 24, on tour to promote their new album, Roll Of The Dice (Private Music), self-described as a "low-down and nasty" 12-song collection. The T-birds balance songwriting craft with unrestrained playing, allowing Kim Wilson's virtuoso blues harmonica to shine as never before. In addition to their original material, some of which was co-written by Nashville collaborators Rick Giles and Chuck Jones, and (Heartbreaker) Stan Lynch, there is a cover of Van Morrison's "Here Comes The Night," a song the band loved and wanted to cover with the proper respect. The Fabulous Thunderbirds are widely known for putting on one hell of a good show and we hope that there are still walls standing to renovate when the show is over. Bugs Henderson opens with a rip-it-up set that Guitar Player magazine describes as "searing blues, jazzabilly, swing, funky Travis picking, psychedelic wah, swamp boogie and twangy surf," sure to get your blood racin' and your feet movin'. His latest release, Years In The Jungle (Trigger Records), combines traditional blues with soft, melodic notes interwoven for a nice change of pace. Tickets are $10 in advance, $12 at the door, and are available at Hear's Music and all Zia locations. Call 795-1420 or 740-1986 for more information on Rialto happenings. KSUX: What do Roxy Music, John Cale, Parliament/Funkadelic, Sex Pistols, Miles Davis, Gil Scott-Heron, The Clash, Flaming Groovies, Brian Eno, Bob Marley, Patti Smith and Television have in common? They all made great music in the '70s which, by and large, was ignored by radio then as it is now. The common jaded response to music of the '70s is that it sucked. A lot of it did. That's the stuff you heard on the radio then, and that's what you're hearing now. For years, Tucsonans have been subjected to daily doses of moldy-oldies such as "Stairway To Heaven" and "Roundabout." For those of you who thought it couldn't get any worse, guess what.... Thanks to woefully misguided marketing research, the powers-that-be in radio have decided on top of that we need "The Pina Colada Song," "Afternoon Delight" and "Disco Duck" thrown into the mix. Makes me wanna holler. Who would have thought that the music from the Carter administration would be sharing airwaves with gaseous conservative wingnuts in the '90s. There's nothing wrong with nostalgia, but when it reaches atrophy, Tucson, we have a problem. Whatever happened to the thrill of finding something new? If everyone engaged in a search for new sounds with the same vigorous effort they put forth in the search for new sexual partners, the music industry as we know it would cease to exist. Miles Davis' "Sketches of Spain" might even propel you to emotional heights that the last one-night-stand you had failed to achieve. Don't get me wrong--I'm not advocating a boycott of this particular station, or any other for that matter. I know I can always change the dial or listen to a cassette. But life is too short to listen to the same stuff over and over again. Explore. It'll keep you feeling young forever. --Jennifer Murphy

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