Thursday, October 19, 2017
Stars
Star Wars Paint Party. You Pick Your Side! You may not be able to use the force to help you become a professional painter, but you can attend a fun event where your painting is sketched out for you ahead of time and you have something to work with. Specify “Vader” or “Yoda” when you buy your ticket, so you can choose whether you’ll get an instructor who breathes really heavily and rarely speaks or one with confusing syntax. No, but really, specify one or the other so they’ll know which one to sketch out on your canvas. 6:15. Friday, Oct. 20. HighWire Lounge, 14 S. Arizona Ave. $30.Agua Caliente Park Astronomy Star Party. This event is simple, straightforward and starry. The Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association is setting up a cluster of telescopes in the Park Bus Lanes (at the north end of the park) to look up at and appreciate the sky. TAAA has been around for over 60 years, and the stars have been around for even longer than that. Celebrate and learn about both at this family-friendly event. Arrive early in case the park entrance gate closes one hour after the start time. 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 21. Agua Client Park, 12325 E. Roger Road. Free.
Meteor Mania! The Orionids are coming! The Orionids are coming! Produced by Halley’s comet, these visitors from the school of space rocks will be doing a flyby on Friday. It’s the middle of the night, so warm clothing (hats, gloves, layers) is a must. Feel free to bring sleeping bags, blankets or lawn chairs to hang out on as well. It’s big, bright, beautiful and the perfect event for space-loving kids (or for the conversion of a non-space-loving kid into a space-loving kid), especially ages 8 and up. 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. (though shuttles back to the parking lot will be available at 1 a.m. and 2 a.m. as well). Friday, Oct. 20. Kitt Peak National Observatory Visitor Center by driving way west on Ajo Way and taking a left at AZ-386 South. (Park in the picnic area, a mile below the summit, and take a shuttle the rest of the way.) $49.95 online or $55 over the phone for adults. $46.95 or $52 by phone for ages 8-16. Tribal members free.
Do Good, Feel Good
Tucson Walk to End Alzheimer’s. The Desert Southwest Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association is hosting the Tucson branch of this walk, which takes place in more than 600 communities across the country. Walk a one-mile or three-mile route at Reid Park and raise funds to support Alzheimer’s research, support and care. It’s free to register for the walk, which gives you all the more incentive to reach out to friends, family, coworkers and beyond to help support a worthwhile cause. 8 a.m. to noon. Saturday, Oct. 21. Reid Park, 900 S. Randolph Way. Free.Tags: Star wars , star wars paint party , Aga Client Park Astronomy star party , star party , stars , meteor mania! , meteors , orionids , orion’s belt , but orion the cat , men in black , Tucson Walk to End Alzheimer’s alzheimer’s , dementia , Light the Night , Leukemia and Lymphoma Society , childhood cancers , Boogie Nights , breast cancer research foundation , magic and murder at hotel congress , hotel congress , luna gale , Rebecca gilman , st. francis theatre , firebird , tucson symphony orchestra , TSO , The River Bride , Marisela Tervino Orta , national playwriting award , Arizona theatre company , Temple of music and art , mocha third Thursdays , happy hour , dogs , SAFE , FAME , Family arts and music experience , MOCA , Children’s Museum tucson , fall ball music festival , you’re not hardcore , unless you live hardcore , Breaking Benjamin , Pierce the Veil , Thrice , Beartooth , Arizona Lapidary Fall Festival , rocks , rocks rock , rock rocks , festival on the green , Oro Valley community center , Marana Cotton Festivals , Gnome fest , festival , Metro Gnome Music , most gnomes , Tucson Classics Car Show , Rotary Club Tucson , Inversion Workshop , 4th Avenue Yoga , nightcrawler , the English Beat , 6LACK , Brother Ali , 191 Toole , Rialto Theatre , Club Congress
Monday, October 16, 2017
An earthquake hit Tucson Saturday night. Only this earthquake wasn’t measured on the Richter scale, but in decibels. The cause of these tremors was Japanese experimental trio Boris.
Boris specializes in beautiful, overwhelming layers of droning noise-rock. Powerful to a point where you aren’t sure if your hair is vibrating or your skull is about to explode. Still, there is a meditative aura to their music. When the hypnotic drumming and guitar textures paired with their simple yet elegant light show, 191 Toole took on the feel of a peaceful yet infernal temple.
This religious symbolism certainly increased with the drummer who, with a rippled golden gong hung behind him, took on the look of an Orthodox icon or Siddhartha. He generally hit his drums only a few times every minute, in sync with the two guitarists’ swells of unchanging distortion.
This is not to say their show wasn’t without surprises: the drummer occasionally used his gong to thunderous effect and at one point a guitarist even switched to an accordion. But instead of polka tunes, the accordion screamed notes more akin to something from an otherworldly void.
When silence finally took the room at the end of the show, with fog still lingering in the air and a few members of the audience sitting in cross-legged trances, the band said thank you and quietly departed, as if they knew their work there was done.
A Boris live show is not for the faint of heart, though it very well may make your heart faint.
Wednesday, September 27, 2017
Coming up next weekend: It's the second annual Dusk Music Festival, featuring more than a dozen acts on Friday, Oct. 6, and Saturday, Oct. 7. The Weekly is highlighting some of the performing artists ahead of the festival kickoff. Today: DJ Jazzy Jeff!
"In west Philadelphia born and raised, on the playground was where I spent most of my days."
DJ Jazzy Jeff wrote lyrics for the Fresh Prince that were true for himself. West Philly native, DJ Jazzy Jeff has has a successful career spinning records and working with Will Smith as well as opening his own production company called A Touch of Jazz. As a critically acclaimed DJ, he has won a DMC Championship and has many Grammy and American Music Awards and nominations. He will take the stage at Dusk Music Festival on Friday, October 6 at 5:55 p.m.
For more information about DJ Jazzy Jeff at Dusk Music Festival, click here!
Tags: Music , Dusk , Festival , DJ , DJ Jazzy Jeff , Fresh Prince , Will Smith , Video
Thursday, September 21, 2017
“All of them, in a way, present me to Tucson,” Gomez said. “It’s like a way of saying, ‘hi, this is me.’”
Tags: Zhang Zuo , Jose Luis Gomez , Beethoven , Mahler , Carreno , TSO , Tucson Symphony Orchestra , classical music
Monday, September 18, 2017
A British folk-punk singer in the tradition of Billy Bragg and Joe Strummer, Frank Turner sings “rock ‘n’ roll will save us all” with enough conviction to make it happen.
His rousing tunes are filled with defiant punk poetry and across six albums, the 35-year-old troubadour has developed a formula that appeals across a wide spectrum. Tucson still needs a proper headlining show from Turner, but the touring partners that have brought him to town are Social Distortion and Jason Isbell. And Turner’s music bridges that span between anthematic punk and heartfelt Americana.
Turner’s 2015 Positive Songs for Negative People swings from quiet solo acoustic songs to electrified punk, with big sing-along choruses like “Get Better” and a somber closing elegy to a departed friend.
Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls appear on Wednesday, Jan. 20 at the Rialto Theatre, with Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit.
Turner shared his current musical obsessions with the Tucson Weekly:
AJJ - The Bible 2
AJJ (formerly Andrew Jackson Jihad) have been friends and touring partners of mine for years. This, their latest album, is a brilliant concentration of everything that makes them amazing as a band; great songwriting, incredible lyrics.
Tags: Frank Turner , Jason Isbell , Video
Thursday, September 14, 2017
Steff and the Articles’ Timekeeper album release
With Birds & Arrows and Infinite Souls
8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 15
Club Congress
311 E. Congress St.
$5, 21+
622-8848
hotelcongress.com
Seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, years… Time never stops.
For Steff Koeppen, working on a new album with her band the Articles over the last several years, that insistent march of time weighed on her mind, framing her goals as a musician, her relationships and her day-to-day work in a way that brought more focus to everything.
It wasn’t a conscious theme to the album until it became time to shape it all into one whole thing and by that time, the name Timekeeper fit it all perfectly.
“In the past, I’ve always taken a phrase from a lyric in a song to name the album,” she says. “I was trying to do the same thing and I found the word ‘timekeeper.’ It helped me put the songs together, all in a place. For me, even though there’s not a concept that ties these songs together, lyrically it was all during a time just after I graduated college and felt a lot of stress. I felt the anxiety of time pressing down on me and that’s in a few songs. Like I’m my own timekeeper.”
The songs were written over years—with two already released as singles to help promote the band on tours—and sprung from different origins, not meant to offer different perspectives on any one theme. But once they were all collected and titled, Koeppen began to see there was more to unite them than she’d thought.
“I started to look at the songs a little differently,” she says. “There’s my personal disposition, where I was coming from at the time, that was always hanging over the songs.”
Friday, September 8, 2017
And what would a class lesson be without a fire drill? Yes, even when the fire alarm was tripped mid-performance, Frankie Cosmos frontwoman Greta Kline instructed everyone to remain calm and collected, as if her music wasn’t doing that already.
Despite the sweet simplicity of most of the songs performed, Frankie Cosmos’s indie textures were surprisingly on-point. With keyboard/guitar interplay, concussive drumming, and even an organized dance routine, the performers showed they had much more going for them than sentimental lyrics. It also probably helped that the crowd sang along to just about every song.
A live band sounding exactly like they do on their albums might seem a disappointment to some, but when the albums in question are as joyous, sublime, and introspective as Frankie Cosmos’, the tightly crafted sounds of the studio come as a welcome to any ears.
Tags: Frankie Cosmos , HoCo Fest , bedroom pop , Greta Kline , my daddy is a fireman
Thursday, September 7, 2017
Composer/performer Chris Black rode into town in the summer of 2007, from Austin, Texas, heartbroken. He left a successful musical career—and the girl he once loved—behind to start a new life in Tucson.
Before long, Black found acceptance in the comforting arms of the downtown arts scene. There, the former country crooner and gypsy/punk/cumbia violinist rose from the ashes of love, redefined himself and established the popular alt-classical concert series ChamberLab.
Black and a crew of local musicians take the stage to perform his latest recording, “Lullabies & Nightmares, Chamber Music, Vol 1,” this Friday, Sept. 8. Other pieces, including "Downtown Suite," and a narrated string trio "Cooper Must Die,” will also be on the bill.
Tucson Weekly caught up with Chris Black over lunch. Relishing in a happy domestic life with his wife of two years, Black says, “I rarely go out anymore.” So, to keep up with friends, Black started hosting “The Grilled Cheese Sessions.”
“Many from the local music scene have enjoyed grilled cheese and Wavy Lays at our house,” Black says.
Tuesday, August 29, 2017
Know Your Product (Special Blog Edition!)
Stars Pick Their Top 5
This week: Lana Del Rabies
You have to love that name. We suspect even Lana Del Rey loves that name. When Phoenix media artist Sam An decided she wanted to create a solo electronic music project, Lana Del Rabies was born, and with it some of the most unapologetically brutal and almost-unmusical noise imaginable. German industrial and horror scores are likely influences, but it doesn’t matter. This is the stuff of nightmares. Del Rabies/An herself told us about the five albums that changed her life to celebrate the fact that she’s performing at the climax of HOCO…
With Jock Club, Violence and Altrice on Sunday, Sept. 3 at the HoCo aftershow, secret venue. See hotelcongress.com/hoco for more information.
1. Nine Inch Nails—The Downward Spiral
I was 14 the first time I heard The Downward Spiral, and my interests in music were never the same after. The way Trent Reznor uses textures on this record influenced my production work later, and how I view what makes a "great" album- strong individual tracks that collectively execute a concept well.
2. Portishead—Third
I was a teenager when this album came out, and growing up in Tucson during this time, I didn't experience a lot of exposure to electronic music. This was the first Portishead album I heard, and it is still is my favorite of theirs. Third expands beyond the boundaries of "Trip Hop" and uses gritty but minimal production to enhance Beth Gibbons's beautifully melancholy songwriting.
3. Einstürzende Neubauten—Kollaps
I lived in Detroit for four years, and while I was there I was fortunate to help with an event while working at The Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, surrounding the history of the Berlin music and art scene in the 1980's/90's. Alexander Hacke of Einstürzende Neubauten and his wife, artist Danielle de Picciotto, were guests at the event who spoke of their projects and experiences. I dove into Neubauten immediately after and was never the same.
4. Giles Corey—Giles Corey
Dan Barrett is a true underground musician, who for me has always expressed what it is like to experience true depression in the most authentic and raw manner possible. His first album as his solo project Giles Corey is an atmospheric journey into an emotional and existential breakdown of the most heightened extremes. Of course I love it.
5. Pharmakon—Abandon
The first time I found out about Pharmakon, a friend was showing me a video of her performing at a gallery somewhere, this was around 2011. For the first time, I saw a woman performing exactly what I felt inside myself and never gave myself a chance to express. Margaret Chardiet is still an innovator in her genre, and it's undeniable that her work empowered me to do Lana Del Rabies in the first place.
Tags: HOCO Fest , Lana Del Rabies , Sam An , Video
Saturday, August 26, 2017
In a game ruled by being hard, former TW cover star Lando Chill refuses to conform. Yes, he writes from a place of vulnerability, without the (boring) posturing or (the even more boring) braggadocio. Instead of enslaving his vision to the form, whether sung, spoken or rapped, Chill's music is an organic extension of self. It is real and open-hearted, rivaling Brother Ali in clarity and sincerity, but instead of preaching, he asks questions. He'd never be so gauche to profess to have the answers. More reminiscent of a modern-day Maya Angelou than any hit-seeking rapper, on "Save Me" his feelings of abandonment by a lover uncover the true reason he feels lost; "My dad would've raised me, but God took him from us." In the African-American tradition of storytelling, he explores legends and personal struggles at once; he is the boy who spoke to the wind, and the kid who wonders, "Pops am I making you proud?" Confessional and sincere, Chill's an original, offering unironic glimpses of a gentle soul. A Tucson gem.
(Read more about Chill this TW Kurt Reighley piece here.)
Tags: Lando Chill , HOCO Fest , Video
