Tucson Weekly: Soundbites (February 11

Sound Bites LAY OF THE LAND: Seeing as how this is the "All Sex Issue," it's rather timely that a good deal of the shows in town this week follow one of two themes: St. Valentine's Day (duh) or Mardi Gras. The former holiday is ostensibly the reason for the teasin', but the latter involves thousands of people getting stinking drunk and goading others into exposing themselves in exchange for cheap, ugly plastic beads. Which involves more sex? You decide.
In hope that your celebrations are more hedonistic than saintly, here are some of the week's more promising options:
I've said it before, and I'll say again that the salsa/samba/soul explosion spinning every Sunday at Club Congress, on Havana night, is some of the sexiest music anywhere in this town. So it couldn't be more fitting that the day of love falls on a Sunday this year, and the Congo has taken full advantage of the situation: The standard Latin theme expands big-time for La Noche del Amor, a celebration of love in the grandest sense. In addition to the usual suspects (DJ Tasha Bundy et al), the club will feature live music by Afro-Cuban salsa/timba/songo group Aché Pa' Ti (pronounced asheh pah tea), as well as Dating and Newlywed Games hosted by KFMA's Ted Stryker, karaoke for serenading (or repelling) that special/unspecial someone, and other wholesome party games including Twister, dominatrixes, free dance lessons, make-out rooms, spin the bottle.... If you can't get lucky here, don't bother going out.
It all kicks off at 9 p.m. Sunday, February 14. Club Congress is located at 311 E. Congress St., and you can buy your tickets in advance for $5. Call 622-8848 for more information.
If you've got a hot date that you're trying to impress, you may want to take in a more highbrow dinner show, courtesy of sophisticated, sultry blues/jazz chanteuse Lisa Otey, and the folks at the Cottonwood Club. Show times are 6 and 8:30 p.m., and the $24.95 ticket price includes a champagne or wine toast and flowers, in addition to dinner and the show. Both shows take place on Sunday, February 14, at the Cottonwood Club, 60 N. Alvernon Way. Call 326-6000 for reservations.
Valentine's Day gets started a day early when Flower Fresh Co. presents Le Freak Show 2: Festival de L'Amour, a big-ass multimedia extravaganza featuring the smooth lounge-jazz stylings of Phoenix's The Hammertoes; hip-hop/acid jazz from Tucson's Interlocking Grip; Gabrielle Pietrangelo, playing selections from her new CD release; gypsy folk tunes from Molehill; and MC Fun Yung Moon with The Band of Freaks.
The bill will also feature a fire show by Flam Chen, bizarre puppet shows by Poppets Presents, the clairvoyant super-hero experience of Angel Powers, films, and kung-fu tap dancing by The Retainer Club. This freaky good time for all begins at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, February 13, at the amazing Mat Bevel Institute, 530 N. Stone Ave. Admission is $5, with a $1 discount for "freaks in full costume." For details, call 547-5458.
If your baby's done gone away and left you, don't stay home and sing the blues; let Austin's W.C. Clark sing your blues away instead. Touring in support of Lover's Plea, his third release on Black Top/Alligator Records, Clark brings his holy union of smooth Memphis soul and hard Texas blues to the Boondocks Lounge, 3306 N. First Ave., at 9 p.m. Sunday, February 14. Tickets are $8 in advance, $13 at the door. Call 690-0991 for more info.
And if your idea of romance is massaging each others' sore necks on the morning after some serious headbanging, then see ya at the Sepultura show. Touring to promote their recently released seventh album, Against (on Roadrunner), the band has undergone a major change since their 1996 release Roots (also on Roadrunner): the departure of vocalist/frontman and co-founder, Max Cavalera.
After considering breaking the band up (or at least changing the name), the rest of the members decided to forge onward as Sepultura after meeting with new singer Derrick Green, who meshes with the band's formula quite nicely, thank you.
Eager to show off the new chemistry, Sepultura will take the stage of Club Outback, 296 N. Stone Ave., on Sunday, February 14. Biohazard, SpineShank, and One Minute Silence open the all-ages show at 7 p.m. Advance tickets are available at CD Depot, Sticks & Strings, Strictly CDs, Zip's on University, and at the club. Call 622-4700 for details.
And now for those Mardi Gras shows....
The Rialto Theatre, always looking for an excuse to throw one helluva party, presents a Mardi Gras Masquerade Swing Ball, featuring L.A. swing band Alien Fashion Show and Tucson's own New Orleans-style all-brass band, Crawdaddy-O.
Alien Fashion Show is touring in support of their eponymous debut CD on Surfdog/Hollywood Records. In addition to 13 original numbers, the disc includes swing versions of The Police's "Roxanne" and Kiss' "Detroit Rock City." Crawdaddy-O has just released its second album, the fabulous Last Night on Earth (on Highland Productions).
The bands' joint performance includes a Mardi Gras parade and costume contest. It all goes down on Swingin' Saturday, February 13, at the Rialto Theatre, 318 E. Congress St. Tickets for this all-ages show are available for $5 in advance at Hear's Music, Congress Street Store, Zip's University, and Guitars, Etc. They'll be $7 at the door. Call 740-0126 for more information.
Tucson's other New Orleans-style band, The LaLa, will also be keeping busy this week with two special Mardi Gras shows. Heavily influenced by the N'awlins R&B and funk of The Meters, The Neville Brothers, and others in that vein, The LaLa will play a Mardi Gras party at 8 p.m. Saturday, February 13, at the Cottonwood Club, 60 N. Alvernon Way. Tickets are $5 per person, and you can call 326-6000 for details.
Next up on The LaLa's agenda is a special Fat Tuesday show on February 16 at the Third Stone, 500 N. Fourth Ave. While the line-up for both shows will be the same--piano, organ, vocals, guitar, bass, drums, saxophone, trombone, and percussion--the Fat Tuesday show will feature traditional Mardi Gras songs by the likes of Dr. John, Professor Longhair, The Neville Brothers, and The Wild Tchopatulas. Call 628-8844 for more info.
BAND WAGON: Last year saw western swing combo Big Sandy and His Fly-Rite Boys on a hiatus of sorts: Leader Big Sandy released Dedicated to You, a solo album which concentrated on early R&B and West Coast doo-wop; and the Fly-Rite Boys put out a mostly instrumental Sandy-less collection called, appropriately enough, Big Sandy Presents The Fly-Rite Boys (both on HighTone Records).
But the full ensemble returns to town this week, brandishing their own special stew of roots-rock, western swing, rhythm and blues, and hillbilly boogie. The band takes the stage at Club Congress, 311 E. Congress St., on Friday, February 12. A rare live performance by Tucson supergroup The Fraidy Cats starts the night off at 9 p.m. Tickets are $6 at the door. Call 622-8848 with any questions.
And finally, it gives us great pleasure to report that The Plaza Pub, 20 E. Pennington St., former home of the celebrated Airport Lounge, is featuring a full slate of live music on the weekends once again. In addition to a weekly open mic every Thursday, the club has recently been booking some of the finest sounds our fair town has to offer every Friday and Saturday night, and this week's shows are no exception. Chris Morrison's Bargain Town and Dennis Mitchell's new powerpop band, The Bremen Town Musicians, play the Plaza on Friday, February 12; up-and-coming pop-rockers Turpentine hit the club on Saturday, February 13. Both shows start at 9 p.m., and cover on both nights is $2, with drink specials to boot. For details call 882-0400.

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