A New Year's Roast

Community-radio station KXCI 91.3 FM is ringing in the new year by dishing on some of its most popular DJs at a charity event called "Roast 'Em and Toast 'Em."

On Friday, Dec. 30, the station will roast hosts Milo Solujic, Carol "Ruby" Anderson, Kidd Squidd and Marty Kool, said Randy Peterson, general manager of KXCI.

Peterson promised an old-school roast.

"We want to make sure it's like what Dean Martin and Bob Hope and those guys did in the '70s and '80s—not like the current Comedy Central insults and sex jokes and stuff like that," Peterson said. "We're the much-more-classy kind of affair."

The event will be held at the Temple of Music and Art. "It's a nice, classy venue that just lends itself to the nature of the event: the Dean Martin-esque kind of style," Peterson said. "Much like our DJs, it's old and a little bit dusty."

The event is a fundraiser for the station, Peterson said.

"All proceeds go toward KXCI," he said. "We're Tucson's community radio. It's a nonprofit station that plays eclectic music, with primarily volunteers from our community pickin' the tunes."

Peterson said that together, the four roastees "have about 100 years of service at KXCI. They all have delightful personalities that lend themselves to making fun of them. ... They're all fun-loving folks dedicated to the music they play."

These deejays have devoted a big part of their lives to the musical genres featured on their shows. For instance, Kool, host of Blues Review, on the air from 5 to 9 p.m. on Saturday, "is known nationally for his blues knowledge and personal blues record collection, and just being a blues DJ for more than 25 years," Peterson said. "He's a member of the Arizona Blues Hall of Fame, and he's not a musician."

Marty isn't the only one who has been recognized off the air for his interest in music, Peterson said. Solujic, who hosts The Bluegrass Show from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday, is also a bluegrass musician, Peterson said.

Anderson has been a staff member and/or volunteer at the station for years, Peterson said. She is the host of Ruby's Roadhouse, which KXCI describes as "a celebration of blues, rock roots and honky-tonk music." It airs Saturday from noon to 2 p.m.

Kidd Squidd, a repeat winner of Tucson Weekly's annual Best of Tucson® awards, hosts Kidd Squidd's Mystery Jukebox from 2 to 5 p.m. on Saturday. Peterson describes it as "a jukebox stocked with the most incredible mix of cool tunes you've ever heard."

The identities of the folks who will do the roasting are under wraps, but Peterson said the lineup will include some of the local musicians the hosts have supported throughout the years.

"We've got other DJs as well as Tucson musicians and some folks from their life, like family members, all coming up to roast them," Peterson said. "But they'll all get a chance to fire back at the end of the night."

In addition to the roast, the evening includes performances by musicians Stefan George, Tom Walbank, Way Out West, and Los Hombres, and an a capella set of bluegrass from the Titan Valley Warheads.

The event also will be "shot and recorded by Access Tucson, so it will actually become television programming," Peterson said.

Although it's being held on perhaps the biggest party weekend of the year, the roast shouldn't interfere with other plans, Peterson said.

"It's early in the evening, and it's New Year's Eve Eve. People are allowed to do whatever they want on Saturday night—just come to us on Friday first," he said.