CLARIFYING THE COVER-UP
Charity has never been this fun. Tonight, Thursday, Dec. 1, marks the first night of the three-night extravaganza known as The Great Cover-Up 2005. The event boasts 30 local bands and performers, who normally play their own music, instead each performing a 20-minute set of covers by a well-known band or artist. It continues on Friday, Dec. 2 and Saturday, Dec. 3. All proceeds from the event benefit the Brewster Center, a local service organization that provides shelter, crisis intervention and advocacy for victims of domestic violence.While we gave you a full run-down of the event last week, there were a couple of errors we'd like to clarify: this year is actually the ninth year of the event, not the eighth; and the Thursday night schedule that appeared in this space last week has been modified since then. Here, then, is the most complete, up-to-date schedule of the entire event, as of press time.
Night One, Thursday, Dec. 1: 9 p.m., the Chesterfield Kings (this is a local band, not the '80s band, despite the photo in last week's issue; we apologize for the production error); 9:30 p.m., Ghost Lodge; 10 p.m., Bombs for the Bored; 10:30 p.m., P.I.A. ; 11 p.m., Seven to Blue; 11:30 p.m., Nowhere Man; midnight, Gat-Rot; 12:30 a.m., Great American Tragedy.
Bands being covered on Thursday, in no particular order (you don't want us to ruin the fun, do ya?): Husker Du, Buddy Holly, the Stooges, Patti Smith, Los Lobos, Jawbreaker, Motley Crue, and Manu Chao.
Night Two, Friday, Dec. 2: 8:30 p.m., Lucy Chair; 9 p.m., Ham on Demand; 9:30 p.m., La Cerca; 10 p.m., Al Perry; 10:30 p.m., scratchingthesurface; 11 p.m., the Sabatino Killers; 11:30 p.m., Found Dead on the Phone; midnight, Molehill Orkestrah; 12:30 a.m., LemonMan; 1 a.m., Love Mound.
Bands being covered on Friday, in no particular order: Beck, Link Wray, Fleetwood Mac, Face to Face, bubblegum pop classics, KISS, Rod Stewart, Brian Eno, Jimi Hendrix, and the Dead Milkmen.
Night Three, Saturday, Dec. 3: 8 p.m., Sencha; 8:30 p.m., Feed; 9 p.m., The Rise and Fall of Amy Rude; 9:30 p.m., Fukuisan Go!; 10 p.m., Hans and the Killers; 10:30 p.m., Old Man; 11 p.m., Spacefish; 11:30 p.m., The Jons; midnight, Crawdaddy-O; 12:30 a.m., Chango Malo; 1 a.m., Jesse Stanley and Friends.
Bands being covered on Saturday, in no particular order: Duran Duran, Mudhoney, The Raincoats, Tom Jones, U2, Supertramp, the Plasmatics, Ministry, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Guided by Voices, and Bruce Springsteen.
(At some point during the event, Cathy Rivers and Steven Dynasty will also be performing together.)
As always, you are urged to arrive early and stay late, as each band has put in a lot of time preparing for their set, and you never know what you might miss. The Great Cover-Up 2005 takes place at Club Congress, 311 E. Congress St. Admission to the event is a suggested donation of $7 for one night, $12 for any two nights and $15 for all three. If those prices are too steep, feel free to attend anyway, and donate what you can. Call 622-8848 for more information. We'll see you there!
ADVISORY: EXPLICIT LYRICS
Some unlikely candidates have claimed to invent rap music over the years (see Lou Reed's "The Original Wrapper"), and we may never actually figure out who to properly credit. But when it comes to XXX-rated rap, which has not only become somewhat of its own genre, but has infiltrated just about every aspect of rap culture (have you seen BET lately?), there is no doubt who the O.G. is.In the '70s Clarence Reid, wrote hit songs for the likes of KC and the Sunshine Band and Betty Wright as his day job. His night job, though, was as caped pseudo-superhero and filthy-mouthed rapper Blowfly--an alter ego that continues today. Blowfly has just released Fahrenheit 69 (Alternative Tentacles, 2005), his first album of all-new material since 1988, and it would be an understatement to say he hasn't mellowed with age.
Fahrenheit 69's running theme is Blowfly's (slightly ill-timed) presidential campaign, which he last addressed on that 1988 platter, Blowfly for President. To my knowledge, he's the only presidential candidate who is obsessed with boogers ("Diggin' Boogers," which proposes nose nuggets as an alternative to drugs), R. Kelly's alleged obsession with underage girls ("I Believe My Dick Can Fly," a parody of Kelly's "I Believe I Can Fly"), people with reversed genitalia ("You've Got Your Dick on Backwards") and just about anything scatological ("Your Precious Cunt," "The Booty Bus," etc.). He's joined here by guests Slug (Atmosphere), Gravy Train!!!!, and Afroman, who appears as Blowfly's vice presidential running mate ("Vote Blow-'Fro in two-thousand-fo' / We gon' shave the Bush 'cause the Bush gotta go"), and is backed by a backing band of relatively youthful (read: middle aged) punks who know how to turn on the funk. It's all completely ridiculous, of course, but that's exactly the point.
Blowfly headlines a bill at Vaudeville Cabaret, 110 E. Congress St., on Monday, Dec. 5, that also includes The Pork Torta, Bob Log III and No Bunny and His Fabulous Flies. Things get underway at 9 p.m. For further details, call 622-3535.
YES, ME!
Bassist Steve Grams and guitarist Danny Krieger constitute local blues duo Grams and Krieger, who this week celebrate the release of their third and latest CD, No, You!, which was recorded in Tucson and Holland, and appears on the Dutch label Firesweep Records. Though it's Grams' and Krieger's names that appear on the cover, the album includes appearances by plenty of familiar names that help beef up the soulful blues sound, including Ed DeLucia, Carla Brownlee, Ralph Gilmore and Eric-Jan Overbeek, aka Mr. Boogie Woogie. Tunes range from the slow-burning late night lament "Big Mouth Baby" and the shuffling blues-rock of "Chilly Side of Town," which boasts gorgeously soulful vocals, to a slightly odd instrumental waltz that sounds improvised ("Old Sparky's Waltz") and a strutting take on Rufus Thomas' "Memphis Train." These two dudes aren't in the Arizona Blues Hall of Fame for nothin'.Grams and Krieger celebrate the release of No, You! at 6 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 4, at Boondocks, 3306 N. First Ave. Special guests include Ralph Gilmore, Ed DeLucia, Johnny "Juke Joint" Strasser and Nancy McCallion, among others. Admission is $5. Call 690-0991 for more info.
ON THE BANDWAGON
A pair of Americana acts from Austin team up for a barn-burner of a show at 9 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 7. Tucson faves the Weary Boys last year released the killer country-gospel album Holy Ghost Power, the follow-up to their third album, Good Times, which was recorded in Tucson, at Wavelab Studios. As great as Holy Ghost was, anyone who's seen the Boys perform live knows their albums simply don't do their live shows justice.In the late '80s and early '90s, Jesse Dayton was frontman for two acclaimed rockabilly bands, the Road Kings and the Alamo Jets, before embarking on a solo career that embraced everything from slick Nashville country (2001's Hey Nashvegas!) to country-soul (2004's Country Soul Brother). These days, Dayton is perhaps best known as the man behind the songs of Banjo and Sullivan, who soundtracked this year's Rob Zombie-directed film The Devil's Rejects. Favorite song title: "I'm at Home Getting Hammered (While She's Out Getting Nailed)." The shows will be playing at Vaudeville Caberet, 110 E. Congress St.
Cover is $8. Call 622-3535 for more 411.
Former Grateful Dead singer-guitarist Bob Weir brings his post-Dead outfit (OK, they actually began while Jerry Garcia was still alive, but you know what I'm sayin'), RatDog, to town this week. The band (which unfortunately won't include virtuosic bassist Rob Wasserman on this stop), mostly performs old Dead classics--songs originally sung by both Weir and Garcia--but tosses in a few of its own tunes as well. They'll be at the Rialto Theatre, 318 E. Congress St., at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 6. Tickets for the all-ages show are $35 in advance, available at the Rialto box office or rialtotheatre.com. They'll be a buck more on the day of the show. Call 740-1000 with questions.
String Theory, the monthly electronica series at Vaudeville Cabaret, 110 E. Congress St., is moving from the first Thursday of each month to the first Friday, starting this week on Friday, Dec. 2. And to mark the change, the club is putting on a very special event: Dave Wright's Not Breathing will be celebrating the release of Minotaur, a new 12" single being released on Terminal Dusk, by performing, along with Captain Crunk, Metrognome, Oramas and Dr. Rek. Copies of the 12", which includes a collaboration with Meat Beat Manifesto's Jack Dangers, will be both given away and available for purchase at the show, which begins at 9 p.m. Call 622-3535 for more info.
