Steff & The Articles have a busy summer on their hands. The local progressive piano-pop band will soon embark on a west coast tour soon. They are playing a free concert (must be 21 and older to attend) with other local favorites The Electric Blankets and Sorry About the Garden at 8 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 2 at Club Congress, 311 E. Congress St. Doors open at 7 p.m. 

Maybe they will play the new track “Call You Mine” Tiny Mix Tapes debuted on Tuesday. Click here to listen to song and here to RSVP for the free Aug. 2 show.

Good news for Brian Lopez fans. We have been keeping up with the local singer/songwriter's antics lately, and he has a lot to say. Lopez is not only a talented musician, but he's a prolific tweeter. I think he discovered the true meaning behind Christina Aguilera's "Genie in a Bottle" 90's hit that launched her career.

Listening to Christina Aguilera 'Genie in a Bottle' objectively for first time...pretty sure this song is all about getting jacked off.

— Brian Lopez (@b_lopez_music) July 13, 2014

In retrospect, I think that's exactly what she was talking about.

Speaking of genies, Lopez has finally announced the release date for his upcoming album, Static Noise. Lopez and his full band will play at 8 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 26, with Dylan Pratt at Club Congress, 311 E. Congress St. Get a babysitter because the show is intended for music lovers 21 and older.

Lopez and will perform a special, all ages intimate acoustic set at Hotel Congress' Copper Hall at 7 p.m., on Saturday, Sept. 27.


Both shows are $10 advance, $12 at the door. Click here and here to buy your tickets.

From the official Ramones Facebook page:

We are saddened to announce the passing of Tommy Ramone (nee Erdelyi), the original drummer for the Ramones, earlier today, 11 July 2014.

"It wasn't just music in The Ramones: it was an idea. It was bringing back a whole feel that was missing in rock music — it was a whole push outwards to say something new and different. Originally it was just an artistic type of thing; finally I felt it was something that was good enough for everybody." - Tommy Ramone, 1978

RIP Tommy.

The Club Congress Facebook page announced it's first some news regarding the upcoming HoCo Festival on Friday, Aug. 29. HOCO Fest will be celebrating its 10-year anniversary with performances by Roger Clyne & The Peacemakers, Nik Turner's Hawkwind, The Soft White Sixties, Witch Mountain, Ian Moore, Matt Ellis, Hedersleben, Fuzz Evil and Chamber.

Tickets range from $15 to $50. The show starts at 7 p.m. Click here to buy your tickets now.

And with that photo, The Buffet Bar made just about the most authentically "Tucson" Facebook post I can recall, even earning bonus points for being non food-related. Amusing on its own, without any knowledge of musician Terry "Texas" Trash or The Buffet, but allow me to explain why the image goes deeper than that.

As for The Buffet Bar, it’s one of the oldest bars in Tucson, established immediately following the repeal of prohibition in 1934, and has remained at the very same location on 538 E. 9th St. in the historic Iron Horse neighborhood. Like every good dive bar, it appeals to broad cross-section of Tucson's population. From longtime regulars to recently transplanted Cali kids, some of whom will soon to be moving next door at The Junction at Iron Horse boutique student housing complex, The Buffet has stood the test of time. It frequently makes national Top 10 Dive Bar lists, and its sights and smells are something most who have lived in Tucson can give you a story about, not unlike the old Grill/Red Room and its cockroaches.

Terry Trash has been a fixture on Tucson's music scene for over 20 years, from the very beginnings of local roots/rockabilly mainstay Al Foul and the Shakes to his current project Texas Trash and the Trainwrecks, which the Weekly's Joshua Levine wrote about last week. Terry forever solidified his badass bona fides for this writer during a Shakes performance years ago at the legendary Airport Lounge, in the basement below Plaza Pub on Pennington St. The chaotic night ended with Al and his Shakes getting banned from the venue; an audience member receiving a shot glass to the temple (thrown by a band member between songs, sailing over our table to the back row); and the band hundreds of dollars in debt. Not only did their bar tab exceed the band's fee, various portions of the Airport Lounge were destroyed during the performance, including the ceiling. Good times.

As could be seen at his recent hell-raising 4th of July show at The District Tavern, even injuries sustained from a run-in with a moving train seven years ago couldn't keep Terry off the stage. And just like Mr. Trash, The Buffet continues to chug along, year after year, serving up soggy dogs, pickled eggs, jumbo drafts and shots of its signature Buffalo Sweat. Despite all the changes the city has gone through, a visit to The Buffet still guarantees a good story, as will a performance from Terry. Hell, Terry was even at The Buffet during a feature the Weekly did back in December!

You can file this under the multiple "Keep Tucson ______" slogans, but it's also part of the future here. It's what's going to keep Tucson authentic, slightly disturbing and charmingly dysfunctional.

There's still plenty of creative elements and movements happening downtown, they've just got new names, a new generation of people behind 'em, and they're not happening on the usual strips. Whether hidden in the shops on Toole, down E. Broadway, or further south on 6th Ave., The Range will renew its efforts to keep a spotlight on these new "so Tucson" happenings, and those that have yet to form. Just not too bright a light, lest we scare away the surviving Grill roaches.

While not quite the sales juggernaut that their previous album, Bleed American, was, Jimmy Eat World's album Futures features some of their most memorable songs and features the crisp, big rock sound that producer Gil Norton is known for. The reviews were good and the album continued the Mesa group's progression from notable emo act to solid rock act. Interestingly, some of the album was recorded here in Tucson.

To celebrate the album's tenth anniversary, the band is embarking on a tour which now includes a stop at the Rialto on October 29. The general sale for tickets kicks off on Friday at 10 a.m., but you can get tickets for what will almost certainly be a sellout show early with the presale password "FUTURES"  on Thursday at the same time.

[Editor's note: We screwed up and forgot to upload this week's CD review to the web on Wednesday. Since Eric did a solid job writing it, we figured we'd put it on the blog. - DG]

Murs’ first album since signing to Tech N9ne’s Strange Music label is a cross-coast collaboration with Miami crew ¡Mayday! that revels in a nimble, from-scratch artistry while making the most of both halves.

From Los Angeles (and currently Tucson) comes Murs, the smiling, freewheeling MC who draws rhymes from an endless well of subject matter. From Miami comes the six-member ¡Mayday!, combining rap and rock in a distinctly South Florida manner.

The thoroughly entertaining result is like watching an NBA All-Star game when the players actually pass (that analogy probably springs to mind from the James Harden reference on “You Again”). The enthusiastic appreciation Murs and ¡Mayday! share for one another is clear throughout, and one of the record’s chief strengths.

The first single “Tabletops” is the album’s signature cut, with Murs, and ¡Mayday! MCs Bernz and Wrekonize unleashing potent verses in rapid succession, over old-school scratching and a party-making beat. “My Own Parade” kicks off with a funky guitar riff, and Murs inviting fans to hop on the bandwagon with a line that reveals a big of Tucson influence: “It’s an All Souls Processional / Ain’t no question we true rap professionals.”

The album is off-the-cuff, conceived and recorded in three weeks at a Cuban-American social club in Miami. As a result, it’s not always the deepest or most creative material Murs has released, but it’s easy to get caught up in the album’s exuberance.

Will ¡MursDay! come again? That the highly talented participants open each other up to new fanbases might be the agenda for Strange Records, but Murs and ¡Mayday! mix too well for fans to be satisfied with a one-off collaboration.  

Singer-songwriter Jacob Acosta — who just moved from Tucson to Oakland — returns tomorrow night for a special, free CD release show at Flycatcher for his latest album, For The People By The People.

Download the album (on a pay-what-you-want offer) at: jacobacosta.bandcamp.com.

Acosta discussed the album and his music with the Tucson Weekly. Stay tuned to the upcoming issue for a full feature, but for now, here’s Acosta giving the song-by-song rundown of For The People By The People:

1. “Walls”
The reason I made it the first song on the record is it was the champion song. It overshadowed everything in my opinion when I started the (Indiegogo) campaign. This is the one song I knew that could bridge everything. The whole song is about breaking down barriers.

2. “White Fire”
A lot of things were dictated by that one song. (When I started writing the record) I was thinking that I might move. White fire is the hottest burning flame and I thought of it like a positive burn, like a controlled burn of the forest, where things regenerate in a new way.

What better way to start off the month of July with some Dolly Parton playing the saxamaphone. Parton covered the theme for the old Benny Hill Show at the Glastonbury music festival on Sunday. After performing the tune once, she dared herself to play the song again but backwards. The 68-year-young country goddess can do no wrong in our eyes. 

Bob Dylan's four page manuscript for "Like a Rolling Stone" just sold for $2.045 million at auction.

Rolling stone. A rock that rolls. Rock and roll. As a word guy (and a Dylan guy), I gotta love it.

The farthest back I can go with the phrase is the Muddy Waters song "Rollin' Stone," recorded in 1950, which is his version of an earlier song, "Catfish Blues," which goes back to the 20s. Jumping forward 12 years, in 1962 (if you're going to believe Keith Richards in his autobiography, "Life"), the very scruffy, very dirty, very poor group of aspiring blues musicians Keith, Mick and Brian, got a gig and were asked, "What do you call yourselves?"

We stared at one another. "It?" Then "Thing?" This call is costing. Muddy Waters to the rescue! The cover is on the floor. Desperate, Brian, Mick and I take the dive. "The Rolling Stones." Phew!! That saved sixpence.

Fact or legend, the Stones' Chicago blues roots are unquestionable.

The name of the magazine Rolling Stone, first published in 1967, either came from the Muddy Waters song or the Rolling Stones, maybe both, depending who you believe. But a better name for a rock and roll magazine is hard to imagine. After all, according to another Muddy Waters song, "The Blues Had A Baby, And They Named It Rock and Roll."

Dylan's songs are such a crazy mix of musical references, literary references and the alphabet soup in his head, there's no way of knowing where the Rolling Stone reference came from. But as for the lyrics themselves, he claims he didn't originally write them as a song.

It was ten pages long. It wasn't called anything, just a rhythm thing on paper all about my steady hatred directed at some point that was honest. In the end it wasn't hatred, it was telling someone something they didn't know, telling them they were lucky. Revenge, that's a better word. I had never thought of it as a song, until one day I was at the piano, and on the paper it was singing, "How does it feel?" in a slow motion pace, in the utmost of slow motion.