Thursday, November 21, 2013

Posted By on Thu, Nov 21, 2013 at 10:00 AM

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  • Photo from shutterstock.com

R. Kelly is the master at creating music about sex. The King of R&B can take any topic and turn it into a song you will play when you make love to that special someone. RollingStone interviewed R. Kelly and gave him a few random phrases to make R&B hits on the spot.

Why? Because he can.

"I know how to put it into a melody and make it comical, but sexual at the same time," the R&B star explains in the next issue of Rolling Stone. "With my gift, I can pretty much write a song out of anything."

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Thursday, November 14, 2013

Posted By on Thu, Nov 14, 2013 at 3:00 PM


Andrew Jackson Jihad ends their November tour in Tucson. Catch the Phoenix band live at 8 p.m. Friday, November 23rd at Solar Culture, 31 E. Toole Ave. Local pop-punk band Big Bad and Chicago's The Gunshy will open the show.

You can listen to Andrew Jackson Jihad's Live at The Crescent Ballroom album here (I highly recommend it):

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Posted By on Thu, Nov 14, 2013 at 9:00 AM

You’re lucky. I’m lucky. We’re all lucky because there are two great shows happening tonight. One is at Plush on 4th Avenue and 6th Street. The other is at Topaz on St. Mary’s at I-10. So prepare to zig-zag back and forth because you’ll be sorry if you miss either. You have problems? I have solutions.

Problem #1: You’re in love with Matt Baquet. You’re kicking yourself because you missed him playing with Dream Sick last night at the Food Truck Roundup.

Solution: You can see Matt hit drums and sometimes miss cymbals with Prom Body at Topaz. Also on the bill are AZ77, Weed, Otherly Love, and Hellshovel. $5 will get you into this all-ages (beer bar with ID) event.

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Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Posted By on Wed, Nov 13, 2013 at 4:30 PM

British R&B/new waveish weirdo Devonté Hynes (you might remember his records when he was going by Lightspeed Champion or when he was the frontman for Test Icicles, but then again, maybe not) has a new album out under the name Blood Orange (sure) called Cupid Deluxe (ok) and it's great, all full of synths, minor chords and feelings. No clue what prompted the dancing in this video for the album's closing track, "Time Will Tell," but the song is probably one of the best things I've heard in 2013.

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Posted By on Wed, Nov 13, 2013 at 3:30 PM


Today WikiLeaks announced a new musical collaboration between Calle 13's Residente, Palestine vocalist Kamilya Jubran, The Nightwatchman Tom Morello and WikiLeaks Editor-in-Chief Julian Assange. Multi_Viral is available for download and will be featured in Calle 13's latest album XX that's expected to release in 2014.

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Posted By on Wed, Nov 13, 2013 at 2:30 PM

This might be weird, but one of my favorite things to do when we're putting this issue together on Tuesday is to look at the Rialto ad and see what new shows have been announced. Sometimes I've already heard the news, sometimes I've heard rumors that someone is coming to town, but the moment of excitement of seeing someone great on their forthcoming calendar is something I look forward to.

Anyhow, this week, the beat my heart skipped was for the Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings show coming on March 20. Tickets go on sale Friday and I have no idea whether the show will sell out or not, but I promise, you should get tickets soonish so you're not the person asking on Facebook the day before if someone is selling theirs. Jones, who last played Tucson in 2005 at Solar Culture (correct me if I'm wrong on that), puts on an incredible show and while you probably ignored me (shame on you, by the way) when I pushed her labelmate Charles Bradley's show this year, there is no better way for you to spend $25 than on a ticket to see Sharon Jones. Get your life right, people, and see a great soul singer when she's in your city while the opportunity still presents itself.

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Tuesday, November 12, 2013

"Keep local music alive."

Posted By on Tue, Nov 12, 2013 at 12:00 PM

Steff and The Articles will be debuting their new EP Why Was It So at  9 p.m. Saturday, December 9th at Plush Tucson, 340 East Sixth Street. Special guest include up and coming local pop band Copper & Congress. This will be the first live performance for funny man Kevin William Lee and Plush bartender Sarah Louise Mohr of Sorry About The Garden.

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Monday, November 11, 2013

Posted By on Mon, Nov 11, 2013 at 3:02 PM

All ages venue Tucson Live Music Space will be closing its doors at the end of this year, with its last scheduled show taking place on Saturday, December 21st. TLMS has been hosting shows for the past 14 months in a converted house located at 125 West Ventura Street, near Grant and Oracle Roads.

As with most music venues without a liquor license, revenue is generated from door entry prices, which at TLMS have never exceeded $6. However, with its lack of proximity to 4th Avenue and downtown, many of its shows have been sparsely attended. TLMS has also been run in a manner similar to a co-op, with volunteers. All of the money earned has gone towards rent for the property, sound equipment, and paying touring acts for their performances.

Today, Billy Brooks, a principle figure in TLMS’ existence and demise, stated on the venue’s official Facebook page:

You may or may not have heard already but TLMS will be closing at the end of the year. After thinking long and hard I came to the conclusion that this was the best thing for myself personally and financially. I would be lying if I said I enjoyed every show, but even the ones I didn't enjoy meant something positive to someone and that was truly enough. We had over 200 bands play their music in our little room and we were able to put thousands of dollars in touring band's gas tanks. I personally made hundreds of friends and at the end of the day that's what it's all about to me. It was a fun ride, I hope some of you enjoyed it too. Last show is December 21st, hope to see you there.

-Billy"

For this article, he added:

Officially, it really comes down to money. We don't get consistent income mostly due to the fact that we don't sell anything. If we were a bar or even a restaurant we would probably make 'other money' and be able to continue. Business costs and alternative location costs make it really hard to make a sustainable all ages space and since I go to school full time and have a low paying part time job I can't support myself and grow TLMS. For a long time I haven't been doing as well as I could for myself because I wanted TLMS to succeed so badly. In reality, it is a full time job to do it right and I don't have the time or money to do it right. All that combined with a void of regular support and some of my volunteers moving onto other things it's just time (to close). I would rather be able to have a last show and say goodbye than to just say we're never coming back. TLMS never became the full version of my daydreams but to some people it was special and that's the silver lining. Hopefully someone holds it as near and dear to their hearts as people do with the Living Room or Skrappy's on Broadway. I have an answer of what I would do with a winning lottery ticket though.

TLMS has had a great run, making live music available to be performed and played by anybody. Just two months ago, the space was awarded the Tucson Weekly Best of Tucson Staff Pick for Best Concert Venue (read it here). On a personal note, I’ve never seen a bad show there, and I will miss it greatly. Our city owes a debt of gratitude to Brooks, Oscar Hernandez, and the many other volunteers that have made TLMS a fantastic place to see shows and build a community.

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Thursday, November 7, 2013

Posted By on Thu, Nov 7, 2013 at 1:30 PM


Alternative rock Tucson band The New Classic successfully raised $5,100 using Indiegogo to produce their first album back in August. They received help from Paul Leavitt who has produced music with bands like Sense Fail, The Boy And His Machine, All Time Low and I Am Ghost. The New Classic debuted their self titled record on iTunes today.

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Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Posted By on Wed, Nov 6, 2013 at 5:00 PM


Surf rock indie band La Luz was hit by a semi truck last night on their way back to Seattle from Boise's Korah Shrine. The band members suffered injuries, their vehicle was totaled, lost all their musical equipment and forced to cancel their tour. They were scheduled to play at Club Congress on November 12th.

Fortunately, no one was seriously injured. Here's their latest Facebook status:

Last night was probably the most terrifying experience of any of our lives. But we're ok! Thanks for the love and well wishes everyone. We lost a lot of things (pretty much everything we had) and got pretty banged up when we were hit by a semi on our way to Seattle last night, but we're just awfully glad to be alive and we'll be back on our feet in no time. For those of you who want to help out financially, Hardly Art set up this paypal to help us pay for some stuff and money we lost. Love to you all!

A Paypal account has been established to aid the band's medical bills, purchase a new vehicle and replace their musical equipment. Click here to send some money, and please help spread the word.


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