Mark your calendars...
What happens when your favorite local bands gather to unabashedly pummel the crowd with mad covers in support of reproductive freedom? Why it's The Great Cover-Up. A golden-hearted charity event not to be missed. Three nights, three venues: Thursday, Dec. 14 at The Flycatcher, Friday, Dec. 15 at Club Congress and Saturday, Dec. 16 at 191 Toole. All proceeds to benefit Planned Parenthood of Arizona...
Thursday, Dec. 14: Balls, huge ones. In January 2012, Los Angeles' HOTT MT drove to Wayne Coyne's house in Oklahoma. They rang his doorbell and demanded collaboration with the Flaming Lips frontman. Instead of slamming the door shut, Coyne conceded. He is featured in the "Never Hate Again" music video in which singer/bassist Ashi Dala holds a gun to Coyne's head. With the "spooky, witchy, '60s-girl-group-inspired psych-rock" of Hannah Yeun and Floating Limbs at Club Congress... During the 1920's, Claire Higgins ran the Pima County Juvenile Detention Center. An austere woman, the mere mention of Mother Higgins instilled fear in would-be juvenile delinquents. Billy Sedlmayr & The Mother Higgins Children's Band keep the legend alive at Tap + Bottle...
Friday, Dec. 15: The Galactic Center will be the site of Just The Music, a sober dance party to benefit Southern Arizona Aids Foundation. DJs Corbin Dooley, E.android, NoodleBox, Cat Child and Thomas B will spin...
Saturday, Dec. 16: Who says one song can't make a career? The despair of obsessive love captured in "Wicked Game" (1989) triggered a domino effect: A supermodel-cast music video, a mercurial ride to number six on Billboard's Hot 100, a spot on David Lynch's Wild at Heart and a balls-out cover by Finnish gothic metal band HIM. Feel the compulsion when Chris Isaak plays The Fox Theater...
Sunday, Dec. 17: In what is being billed as Chesmas, singer/songwriter Leila Lopez will be at Che's Lounge... Melding EDM tinged beats with their signature fast-rapping style, New Waves (eOne), Bone Thugs-n-Harmony's 10th studio album, marks a new direction. Backed by Lil' Flip at The Rialto Theater. Check it... Thirty years and counting, Mannheim Steamroller has been "a holiday feast for the ears and the eyes." Experience the dazzling multimedia spectacle at Centennial Hall...
Monday, Dec. 18: Sub Pop's Moaning unleash their abrasive post-punk, along with the emo/math rock of Tucson's Her Mana and Caleb G at Club Congress...
Tuesday, Dec. 19: Capturing the angst of living in tumultuous times on their latest LP, The Thread That Keeps Us (Anti- Records), Calexico bring their piquant multi-cultural sound to 191 Toole, but if you don't have tickets, you need a Christmas miracle because it is SOLD OUT...
Thursday, Dec. 21: Sleigh bells will ring when swing revivalists Big Bad Voodoo Daddy bring their high-energy, horn-laden wall of sound to The Fox Theatre for a "Wild and Swingin'" holiday party for all ages. Jumpin' and jivin' all the way... On "Delusional," off of Love Trap: The Story, Josephine pouts, "I ain't like those other hoes," wrestling with self-doubt after a break-up. It's gonna get hot when Josephine saunters into Club Congress...
Saturday, Dec. 23: Calvin Broadus Jr.'s musical career began humbly. Broadus (aka Snoop Dogg) played piano in a Baptist church before starting to rap in the sixth grade, unwittingly setting in motion a force that would later morph the young rapper into a storied multi-platinum recording artist. With a penchant for ganja, the smoke is sure to be thick when the notorious Snoop Dogg wafts into The Rialto Theater...
Hot Wax...
With new band Amor Deluxe in tow, Parisian composer/guitarist Gabriel Naim Amor will preview his latest instrumental album Moments Before. With Amy Rude's Heartbeast, Saturday, Dec. 16, at Exo Roast Co...
SHOUT OUT...
Props to ChamberLab's Chris Black. On Dec. 2, ChamberLab hosted a marathon performance of Erik Satie's composition "Vexations." Thirty-four musicians played Satie's slow and static three-and-a-half-minute motif continuously, ad nauseam, over the course of 16 hours at Hotel Congress. They raised over $16,000 in pledges and donations, to benefit the ACLU of Arizona, in the process...
ON THE HORIZON...
Bringing the sounds of the Amazon rainforest to the desert Southwest, XIXA and DJ Dirtyverbs will kick off the New Year at The Rialto Theater... EDM and jam band enthusiasts take heed. Gem & Jam Festival 2018 returns for its twelfth installment to the Pima County Fairgrounds, Jan 25-28...
Until next week, XOXO...
