• Rialto Theatre Facebook Page

Carla Morrison is gracing us with her presence tonight at the Rialto Theatre, 318 E. Congress Street. I can't resist this show even though I won't understand everything she's saying because all her music is in español.

GRAMMY nominated album Mientras Tu Dormias- Dejenme Llorar (Out On Carla Morrison Musica/Cosmica Records OUT NOW) Her most personal and fully realized record to date. It has been nominated for FOUR Latin GRAMMY Awards including RECORD OF THE YEAR, SONG OF THE YEAR, ALTERNATIVE ALBUM OF THE YEAR, AND ALTERNATIVE SONG OF THE YEAR (winning ALTERNATIVE ALBUM AND SONG OF THE YEAR respectfully). The album has also been nominated for a GRAMMY in the Best Latin Rock, Urban, or Alternative Album category.

• C. Elliott
• Butch Hancock

Townes Van Zandt's roughshod life somehow created space and breathed life into a pack of uncontainable West Texas singer-songwriters whose time arrived like a haboob in the early ’90s and departed just about as quickly a decade later. Still, they abide.

• Stephen Seigel
• The Replacements at Denver Riot Fest

1. I'm not a fan of huge outdoor music festivals. I've been spoiled by shows in clubs and theaters, so the idea of milling about with tens of thousands of people in a place vulnerable to the elements, standing on my tiptoes to get a brief glimpse of the bands, isn't my idea of a good time.

2. The Replacements are my all-time favorite band.

So when it was announced that the two primary (living) members of The Replacements — singer-guitarist Paul Westerberg and bassist Tommy Stinson — would be reuniting to play their first shows together in 22 years, it was kind of a no-brainer for me to get in on the action.

Despite reports that the band had turned down more lucrative offers to play bigger festivals (i.e., Coachella and the like), The Mats decided to go with the smaller, more grassroots Riot Fest. A traveling carnival of a music festival (rides! wrestling! fire performers!), Riot Fest made three stops — Toronto, Chicago, and Denver — with varying lineups in each city. I managed to make it to the Chicago and Denver dates over the last two weekends, and I couldn't be happier I did.

The Replacements delivered, period. They were as ferocious a live act as they'd ever been, and perhaps just as importantly, they were clearly having a great time, goofing on each other (e.g., Westerberg's crack about Tommy Stinson playing in Van Halen — he's actually a current member of Guns N' Roses) and wearing matching Western shirts, skirts, and cowboy hats at the Denver date. Expectations for these shows was high and, save for one cranky, off-base music critic, no one seemed at all disappointed. The Replacements are still the best damn band on the planet.

Oh, yeah. A ton of other bands played, too. I caught great sets by Guided by Voices, Superchunk, Blondie, Flag, Best Coast, The Dismemberment Plan ... far too many to name here.

I also got my first taste of what's it's like to be in the photo pit at a big show. (I could get very used to it.) So, after the jump, here are some photos I took at the Denver stop — with additional Replacements photos courtesy of ©J. Dennis Thomas, who you can find at jdt-photo.com.

The Flandrau Science Center is known for its world-class mineral museum, marine biology exhibits, and trippy laser light shows.

This weekend is your last opportunity to catch ELECTROLAZE at Southern Arizona’s only Planetarium Theater. Feast your eyes on the laser effects to the music of Skrillex, deadmau5 and Daft Punk at 8 p.m. Friday and 5:30 p.m. on Saturday for the early birds.

We have two 4 tickets packs to for An Evening of Pink Floyd: TSO Rocks the Fox show next month.

Celebrate the 40th anniversary of the release of Pink Floyd’s legendary Dark Side of the Moon with the TSO at the Fox Tucson Theatre on Friday, October 11 at 8:00 p.m. Experience classic rock masterpieces including “Money,” “Us and Them,” “Speak to Me/Breathe in the Air” and “Time” with full orchestra. The first half of the program will feature hits from Pink Floyd’s other blockbuster, The Wall, including the No. 1 single, “Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2,” “Run Like Hell” and “Comfortably Numb.”

If you picked up this week's copy of the Tucson Weekly, you may have seen our Nine Questions Interview with George Nardo. Nardo is the owner of and lead audio engineer at one of Tucson’s most well-known recording studios, the Luna Recording Studio. He has been a dedicated musician since the ’60s, written songs for platinum albums, and toured everywhere from Hollywood to London. As it turns out, George had more to say than what we could cover in our short Nine Questions—a lot more. The Tucson Weekly dropped him a line and, last Thursday, I stopped by the studio to pick his brain about the Beatles, rappers stuck in the eighties, and his take on new vs. old-school equipment.

How did you get into the music business?

I got into this when the Beatles came on Ed Sullivan. It was just amazing— the British Invasion—the songs that were happening at that time were just incredible. It really captured my heart and soul, and that’s what I’ve been doing, I’ve been a professional musician and audio engineer since I graduated high school.

I see kind of a mixture of what I would consider old-school equipment and then some newer stuff here too. Analog or digital, what’s your preference?

I love the sound of vintage analog equipment, so I have a studio that has vintage analog front-end, vintage microphones... then I put it all into the latest DAW (digital audio workstation). So I have the best of both worlds, I have the big fat sound of analog and the editing ability of digital. It’s a nice combination.

How do you bring hip-hop into a studio like this?

There are a few hip-hop artists that I actually make the beats for and we spend time going through the lyrics and spend time with the performance. They’re very thoughtful, they’re very concerned about how they sound—what they have to say. And then the other 90 percent are "pop a cap in your dome," they’re still in the ’80s. Still gangsta.

• C. Elliott
• Hanson at the Rialto Theatre Sept. 22

Nothing about having a family and planning for your kids' education seems to temper the lust for a hit. The Hanson boys always have had the right stuff, and their team's Internet chops have only magnified their scope like a plague of tiny hearts on notebooks worldwide. Street teams FTW!

• Blitzen Trapper Facebook Page

Portland, Oregon-based experimental country/folk band is performing at Club Congress on Sunday, Nov. 10. Blitzen Trapper is releasing a seventh album next Monday, but you can listen to the entire album right now at NYT Music.

Buy your tickets here and learn the words to their new songs so you're not "that guy."

• KXCI Facebook Page

I listen to KXCI on a daily basis, and nothing is more infuriating than the fall membership drive. This isn't an ad, but more of a cry for help. I'm not saying that KXCI shouldn't ask for money because they should, but I just want things to go back to normal and listen to music without any interruption. Some of you reading this can spare the $7,800 and can use the tax break other can sign up for a monthly payment option and feel better knowing that all is good in the Old Pueblo. Click here to become a member of this community funded radio station and end my sadness.

• C. Elliott
• Cold War Kids at the Rialto Theatre Sept. 20

Can Tucson kids afford both Cold War Kids and Hanson within a week of each other? Of course, they don't have the added cost of booze. Still, shouldn't they be stalking people their own age?