It's a testament to the power of social media. While studying classical clarinet at Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Cody Carson asked All Time Low’s Alex Gaskarth if he could sing “Coffee Shop Soundtrack,” at their upcoming House of Blues gig via a YouTub e video. Gaskarth agreed.

Fast forward and now, despite guitarist Dan Clermont’s recent hiatus from the band following allegations of sexual assault, the symphonic rockers Set It Off dance the “Lonely Dance” at 191 Toole this Tuesday. They are flanked by post-hardcore four-piece Emarosa and pop punks Broadside. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Details here.

Singer-songwriter Steff Koeppen has a “Way With Words.” Her chill, electro pop provides the musical soundtrack for the Go For Launch Party: A celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission to the moon at Sky Bar. The event is put on in collaboration with Novaspace, Spacefest and the University of Arizona Moonfest. The space-themed fun starts at 6 p.m. Details here.

The sulfuric vapors will seep up through the crevices from the underworld at Club Congress for a night filled with metal. Hailing from the Black Hills of South Dakota, Souls with perform along with Arm’s Reach, Hellhook, Realize and Slow Descent starting at 7 p.m. Details here.

Traveling from the Lone Star State, Punk With A Camera and Sad2 lock horns with locals Bleach Party USA, Pretty Ugly and Gutter Town for an all-ages diversion. Or is it subversion? The doors open at 7:30 p.m. at Blacklidge Community Collective. Details here.

Find more Claytoonz here.

Tucson Pride delivers the second annual edition of Levine Productions’ Rainbows, Unicorn Farts and Fairy Dust Comedy show from 7 to 10 p.m. on Saturday, July 20 at La Quinta Inn & Suites Tucson Reid Park, 102 N. Alvernon Way. Tickets are $15 via Eventbrite and $20 at the door, cash only. The show is for ages 21 and older, and there will be a cash bar.

Tucson Pride President Sam Cloud said that the show is near to her and the group.

“This show is so special to me and our organization because it is a perfect example of grassroots organizing. Community members brought the idea to us. It is completely organized and run by those incredible volunteers and has become an annual event we look forward to sharing with the community (to) spread laughter and positive energy together."

Tucson’s (drag) Queen of Comedy Lucinda Holiday will host the comedy show, featuring Kristine Levine, comedian, co-host of The World Famous Frank show on KLPX and former Portlandia cast member. 

Featured comedian Anthony Desamito tours out of Los Angeles, but said Tucson is a favorite stop.

“Southern Arizona is a hidden gem,” he said. “I headlined Bisbee Pride and IBT's last summer so it’s an honor to help raise funds for Tucson Pride. We’re going to have the gayest time!”

Out Magazine and The Advocate both have profiled Desamito. The Daily Beast pegged him as a contemporary comic who "should be a household name," and the LA Weekly called him "a comic worth paying for." He was also the first winner of the annual Funniest Person with a Day Job competition hosted by the House of Comedy AZ.

Tucson native Andrew Horneman, now living in Austin, was a crowd favorite in last year’s Unicorn Farts show. His comedy about living gay is tremulously sensitive to social peculiarities that elude most of us. The result is a litany of laugh lines on premises that are as relatable as they are engaging.

While he’s in town, he’s added a 10:30 p.m. standup show on Friday, July 19 at Tucson Improv Movement for $5 at the door.

Tucson Poetry Festival Chair Em Bowen will bring their funny side to a guest slot. A popular guest on local comedy showcases, Em recently launched one of their own at Crooked Tooth Brewery. Bowen was also the highlight of the Let’s Talk about Sex Baby show at IBT’s last January as part of Tucson’s LOL comedy crawl.

A transplant to Tucson from Portland, Levine is known for no-holds-barred, feminism-based comedy. Like her life, according to her website, her comedy is raw, unapologetic and fierce. A friend and colleague of Doug Stanhope, she starred in his notorious film, The Unbookables, which was released on DVD last fall. Levine also holds a record for being the first woman to tour 50 states in 50 days.

TACO hosts a comedy benefit for Abortion Fund of Arizona
Tucson Atheist Community Outreach Team (TACO) is hopeful laughter might be the best medicine for the sick social policies that are making access to abortions increasingly restrictive in the U.S.

With the help of Roxy Merrari, host of the Monday Comedy at the Wench series, the local service group has lined up top Tucson comedians for a benefit supporting The Abortion Fund of Arizona, which provides direct assistance to women seeking abortions. It’s a project of NARAL Pro-Choice America Foundation, a national organization that advocates for choice.

The event takes place at 7 p.m. on Friday, July 26 at The O, 2000 N. Oracle Road. Reservations are $10 via Eventbrite and $15 at the door.

Orange County native Olivia Grace tops the bill. She is best known for winning Comedy Central Roast Battles while still in high school. The feat inspired a short comedy feature about her which debuted at Sundance in 2016. Grace performed on all three seasons of Jeff Ross Presents: Roast Battle on Comedy Central. Most recently she was a writer for the 2018 Roast of Bruce Willis. She has participated in the Just For Laughs Festival and New York Comedy Festival.

Kristine Levine will be fresh from her tour de force benefit for Tucson Pride, the Rainbows, Unicorn Farts and Fairy Dust Comedy Show. Along with Merrari, the rest of the lineup includes Rebecca Tingley, Joe Tullar and Joel Martin. TACO honcho Don Lacey will emcee.

This post has been updated to correct the date of Levine Productions’ Rainbows, Unicorn Farts and Fairy Dust Comedy Show.

Branded as Arizona Hardcore, Arm's Reach is an apt name for this intense five-piece. Out of Phoenix, their music indeed sounds close enough to grab you. Jairus's vocals are aggressive, almost animalistic, but this doesn't stop the guitar and drums from occasionally reaching tech-death levels of complexity. Their newest release, a self-titled album released this April, fits as much punch in less than 10 minutes as many hardcore punk bands hope to achieve across multiple LPs. Arizona Hardcore is correct, this kind of power can only come from extreme heat.

See Arm's Reach with Hellhook at Club Congress. 7 p.m. Tuesday, July 16. 311 East Congress. Street 16+ $10-15.


Dead Kennedys Give me Convenience or Give Me Death
I grew up jamming the Dead Kennedys with my uncle and they've always been a huge influence for me musically. Lyrically they brought up a lot of political issues and the overall apathy that so many people have toward the lower class, minorities, and other various people groups with less privilege. They were also very creative and great at their instruments. – Brandon (Guitar)





Cro-Mags Age of Quarrel
The riffs on that record inspired me immensely as a teen. Changed me and the way I looked at hardcore forever. It's a record that has since stayed in my rotation. – Jorge (Guitar)









Terror Always the Hard Way
Finding that record my freshman year of high school, I found every song was an angry fast anthem full of raw energy. In my opinions it's underrated, heavy and still holds up. – Steven (Bass)









Have Heart The Things We Carry
Although positive lyrics are typically not something I enjoy, The Things We Carry was a pivotal record for me as a 16-year-old. It taught me that music can stand for something more than just words on a page. – Jairus (Vocals)










Ceremony Violence Violence To me, this is a perfect record. The emotions it taps into are unmatched. As a drummer, I fell in love with the intensity and rawness of it. It has had a huge impact on shaping what hardcore and punk means to me. – Josh (Drums)

It was a typical Friday pep assembly sometime in the late 1970s, early 1980s at Clackamas High School outside of Portland, Oregon, where I taught English.

Students and staff filled the bleachers in the gym on either side of the basketball court. We knew pretty much what to expect. The pep band would play. Some students might perform a skit, present some awards or give us a little pep talk. The girl's drill team might dance. For certain, we'd hear a coach or two tell us about that night's boys basketball game.

What we didn't know until the coach walked out in the middle of the court and announced it was that we would be watching a 10 minute scrimmage by the girls basketball team.

I knew we had a girls basketball team. Title IX mandated it. But that was all I and most of the rest of the crowd in the bleachers knew. Few people other than family and friends had gone to any of their games. We had no idea what to expect.

As I waited for the team to come out onto the court, I turned my eyes toward the gym ceiling and said a silent teacher's prayer. "Please let the young women do a competent job out there on the court. Please don't let them make fools of themselves. And if they don't play well, please, students, please don't laugh and make things even worse."

The team, divided into two squads, ran onto the court and began their pregame warmups. They looked . . . not bad. It was a promising beginning.

A few moments later, out came a half dozen of the school's jockiest boy athletes decked out in full cheerleader regalia — short skirts, sweaters with padded bras underneath, pompoms. They skipped and whooped and waved their pompoms in the air, then assumed their cheerleading positions in front of the crowd. Because, the boys decided, if the girls were going to invade their turf on the court, the boys would take the cheerleaders' places on the sidelines. Fun!

I was still in full teacher prayer mode when the scrimmage began. A minute into the game, I realized the girls didn't need any divine, or teacherly, intervention. They were moving the ball up and down the court, dribbling and passing effectively. They knew how to shoot.

They were good!

Co-hosts Christopher Boan and Tyler Vondrak are back after a week off to break down the Women's World Cup, Megan Rapinoe's speech at their victory celebration, the Home Run Derby and the latest NBA Free Agency drama.

The dynamic duo break down Rapinoe's larger than life performance at the WWC, including her dynamic speech at Wednesday's ticker-tape parade, and discuss what it'll take for the women to earn equal pay to the U.S. mens squad.

The final segment of Friday's show breaks down the decisions of the NBA's free agency class, as well as trades involving Russell Westbrook, Chris Paul, Anthony Davis and more.

Tune in each Friday for a new segment of All Bets Are On, the Tucson Weekly's only sports podcast.

As we enter weeks on end of 100+ degree weather, it's important to consider our pets' comfort too. There are a few rules to follow to make sure your dog or cat enjoys the summer too, shared by the ASPCA.

1. Make sure your pet has plenty of water, always.
2. Never leave your dog in the car. Even when it's 70 degrees outside, the car interior can get up to 20 degrees hotter. That means that when the temperature is 100 degrees, the car can get upwards of 120. Open or cracked windows don't effectively cool down the car.
3. Don't leave pets unsupervised around a pool. Not all of them are good swimmers.
4. Trimming your pet's hair is okay, but shaving them may remove layers of protective fur that will keep them from sunburn or overheating.
See these other rules shared by the friendly ASPCA staff. 

Tony Tripoli: We’re way more the same than we are different.

“It’s odd that my balls look like it snowed a little, but hey, how many more years will I be able to see that far, anyway?” The gorgeous Tony Tripoli turns 50 this December and he’s got things in perspective. He complains that the young ones won’t leave him alone, but he isn’t too proud to offer them a ride home.

Tripoli brings his nonstop one-liners and bad boy charm to The O on Saturday, July 13 at 8 p.m. Tickets are priced for a sell-out: $3 on Eventbrite.com. Also on the bill are Phoenix comedians Trejon Dunkley and host Kid Ever.

Tripoli fans are Joan Rivers fans. He was her favorite. Not only did he open her on tour for four years, he was head writer and co-producer for Fashion Police with Joan Rivers on E! He also produced and/or performed on her Joan and Melissa: Joan Knows Best?, In Bed with Joan and What She Said.

Previously, he was a staff writer on The Dish on Style Network. Other TV credits include Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List, Fashion House, Two and a Half Men, TV Guide's Funniest Commercials, TV Guides Hollywood's Sexiest Couples, and E!'s 50 Super Epic TV Moments.

Tripoli contributes hours of his time advocating for LGBTQA rights and AIDS awareness. He started out in gay clubs but he says, “When I walk out, every gay man over 30 folds his arms and just shuts down. I will win these judgmental bitches over, but I may pull a muscle doing it.

“In a typical club, the audience is 90% straight and I love that. I am ‘the other’ to straight folks. I’m interesting. My dirty talk is funny to them because it sounds so foreign. But a few minutes in, they start to realize that we are way more the same than we are different. That’s a cool moment.”

Ever on trend, Tripoli has a podcast, Due diligence with Tony Tripoli and Tobias Barrington Wolff. Otherwise he generally resents the online world as only an elder can. “Now, kids who never stepped on a stage make videos in their bedrooms that only make sense to themselves. Then they have a million followers and someone suggests, ‘You’re hilarious. You should do comedy’. So they start booking comedy clubs.” Tripoli’s generation, of course might work decades before a name club gave them so much as a ten-minute set.

If his future’s been interrupted by the modern world, it’s owing to Rivers’ death in 2014, an event from which he is no doubt still reeling.

“Joan was the kindest, most generous, stereotypical Jewish mother. Every day ‘Eat something. I need to see you eat something’. It was hilarious. ‘Why are you single? I met a man for you:— a theatre producer, early 90s, very, very wealthy, more hair coming out of his nose than is on his head, but he won’t live long, and you’ll have such a life!’

 

When San Antonio punk rockers Fea started making music in 2015, they sought to combine their Latina upbringing with a modern, rebellious punk sound. Their songs "Mujer Moderna" (Modern Woman) and "Feminazi" held quite overt stances on race and gender issues, as did their band name itself, meaning “Ugly Girl”. Suffice to say, in the politicized years since, they’ve had plenty of material to work with.

“There’s been tons of things happening in this country. I mean, we have Trump in office, and he’s literally a reality TV star,” says drummer Phanie Fea. “Obviously there’s been women’s rights, race, and immigration policy. We try to touch on a lot of that.” 
In true punk band fashion, every member of Fea assumes a familial name: from vocalist Letty Fea and bassist Jenn Fea to guitarist Bobby Feo.

Often grouped into the aggressive, feminist punk genre “riot grrrl”, Fea differentiates themselves with a strong ear for melody, lyrics in both English and Spanish, and a healthy dose of humor. Their upbeat, danceable rock sound quickly caught Joan Jett’s attention, who released their debut self-titled album on her Blackheart record label.

Their 2016 debut album ranges from clear, defiant punk on songs like "You Can't Change Me" to modern renditions of mythology on "La Llorona”. The latter tells of a ghost in Mexican folklore, but subverts the common narrative by telling the story through the first-person view of La Llorona. Their music also ranges into the territory of humorous vignettes on songs like "Sister K,” which tells of an especially mean Catholic school nun of whom Letty says, "If she was Jesus Christ, I'd have hammered the nails myself."

“We definitely have some silly songs,” Phanie says. “It comes natural, we’re kind of goofy chicks. Like, there are things that are shitty and you need to know when to speak up on them, but that can’t be all.”

According to Phanie, the four members of Fea work well together because they were raised in a similar fashion. They were raised by mothers and grandmothers, so wanting to focus on strong women figures in their music came naturally.

“My parents were raised thinking that to speak Spanish was to be looked down upon, that if you spoke it in school, you wouldn’t get as far,” Phanie said. “But no matter what, no matter who you are or where you’re from, you still have to work hard. A lot of what we’re doing now is kind of proving ourselves.”

But perhaps no song on their debut quite sums Fea up like “Mujera Moderna,” which examines violence against women over a classic punk groove. The lyrics of "So what if her shirt is low cut, and her jeans are tight / Tell me why, tell me why do you think that it's alright when she puts up a fight?" fit surprisingly well to a danceable, energetic rhythm.

In the three years since their debut release, Fea have become an even more cohesive unit, Phanie says. The bass and drum lines fit in as structure to the stories Letty tells in each song. Fea recently finished recording their new album, but a release date remains elusive. The song topics can still range wildly, but generally stick to a conscious messages.

“One song can be about vanity while another is about whatever the fuck Trump said today,” Phanie says.

Although Fea has more material than ever to sing about, Phanie says their music and message is spreading in a positive way.

“We’re seeing a lot of people supporting what we’re doing,” Phanie says. “Often it’s feminists or the queer community, but there are even people who are just curious about our music… it’s been very positive.”

More recently, Fea has scheduled out a tour throughout the Southwest where they plan to play the songs off their upcoming album. On top of that, they continue to be praised by classic punk musicians, such as when Iggy Pop gave Fea a shoutout in Rolling Stone. And it’s only natural, so long as there are race or gender to discuss, the members of Fea plan to rock about it.

“Ultimately it’s about balance and equality,” Phanie says. “We’re all human.”

See Fea at 191 Toole: 8 p.m. Saturday, July 13. 191 Toole. With Bruiser Queen and Sur Block. Free. 21+

Hearts pounding—having just sprinted the half-mile from the neighborhood 7-Eleven back to a rented band house, near 22nd Street and Alvernon Way—they arrive in a panic, rooster manes disheveled after a routine beer run gone awry. Brian Smith, then frontman for Gentlemen Afterdark, explains, “We got hassled for how we looked, of course. This pair of rednecks in a small pickup truck chased us home, hell-bent to cave our skulls in.”


The saga continues: “When we got there, Winston [Watson], the smallest kid in the band, pulled out this authentic looking BB gun pistol and ran out the door screaming bloody murder. Out on the street he took this hilarious cop stance with legs apart and pointed the toy gun, his elbows straight, at those rednecks in the pickup. They freaked and ducked and skidded the hell out of there.”

This and so many incidents similar served as inspiration for “Open the Door." A song recorded 36 years ago—now enjoying an uncanny resurgence after finding placement on the season premiere of Netflix’s Stranger Things, starring Winona Ryder and David Harbour. And this season is red-hot. The third installment of the nostalgic horror series is the new Netflix four-day streaming champion; 40.7 million households watched over the long Fourth of July weekend.

Truth being stranger than fiction. Who would’ve ever imagined?

Gentlemen Afterdark—this arresting combination of New York Dolls glam/punk, ‘80s New Romanticism and the trash and grit scrapped from the sidewalks—were led by singer Brian, his brother Barry Smith on keyboards and violin, guitarist Robin Johnson, bassist Fred Cross and Winston Watson behind the drum kit.

Dancing on the crumbling precipice of fame, in 1984 they were vaunted by People magazine as “Stars of the Future.” The piece included a quote by rock legend Alice Cooper, a mentor who had taken the Gents under his wing.

“They reminded me of when I was young.” Cooper quipped, “I told them to have my daughter back by 7:30 p.m.”

In spite of such accolades Gentlemen Afterdark struggled to safely traverse the intersection where art and commerce converged.

Produced by Cooper and Dick Wagner, “Open the Door,” written by Robin and Brian, is from their 1983 EP. Originally self-released on vinyl, recorded at Vintage Recorders (Phoenix) in sessions which Barry Smith describes as being tense:

“[We were] young and hungry—pop music was exploding in all directions: Rap, post-punk, new wave. New sounds and energy were badly needed. But tension came from musical culture clashes. They wanted us to go with a safe sound of much of the pop music back then.”

Low on self-confidence, a shaky-voiced Brian found himself facing his musical idol through the studio glass, toiling to lay down the vocal track.

A now-sober Brian says, “My voice sounded so constricted here. I was so fucking terrified because, well, that was Alice Cooper. And Dick Wagner, who played guitar with Lou Reed. Those guys wrote 'Only Women Bleed' together. But my band was amazing, they were so young and gifted."


But what does this triumph mean to you now? “It’s very cool,” Barry says. “It comes at a perfect time...Gives a certain spiritual boost to my confidence.” Kid brother Brian says, “It is hard to get my head around the idea of that terrified voice now soundtracking a Winona Ryder scene in an episode of one of the most popular TV shows on earth. But I am really grateful for the song placement. There is something about this song, this sound of kids trying to find a sound. That struggle sounds pretty damn interesting now."