XOXO...

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Courtesy
Marianne Dissard

Mark your calendars...

Thursday, Feb. 22: Often performing as a one-man band, Al Foul draws on primitivism with allusions to forebears Link Wray, Johnny Cash and Blind Lemon Jefferson to craft his compelling school of hard knocks sound. At Owls Club... Driven by cowbells, congas and timbales, chicha was popularized in Columbia and Peru during the 1960s and '70s. Austin's Money Chica traffic in this fuzzed-out, reverb drenched retro style of psychedelic cumbia. With Latin rockeros Santa Pachita at 191 Toole... Rik & The Pigs (garage/punk), Lenguas Largas (psych/rock/soul/punk/norteño), New Doubt (synth/punk) and Jack Topht (hip hop) seize the stage at The Flycatcher... He is the grandson of legendary country outlaw Waylon Jennings. Whey Jennings & The Unwanted keep the spirit alive at The Maverick...

Friday, Feb. 23: If Robert Rodriguez's El Mariachi soundtrack spliced genes with Gogol Bordello's "Purple," Diego's Umbrella would be the sonic love child. This band of gypsies are out in support of Edjka (Hardline), their fifth studio album. "It's a show for getting drunk, sweaty and making bad decisions." At 191 Toole... On "LOUD (Fuck It)," from Graveyard Shift (Roadrunner Records), Chris "Motionless" Cerulli offers up self-help advice with goth-metal 'tude. "You gotta be loud/You gotta be rude/So the world can hear you.../Say 'fuck it,' make the best of it." Motionless In White at The Rialto Theater. With Every Time I Die, Chelsea Grin, Ice Nine Kills... With a passion for the performing arts as vehicle for social transformation, this classically trained ensemble—cello, piano and percussion—formed to promote the rich musical history of Mexico and Latin America. Canciones sin Fronteras: Featuring vocalist Arnulfo Velázquez will break down barriers in the listening room at Exo Bar... Her latest album, Our Animal Skin, was recorded with just a pair of condenser microphones through an old mixing board. But chronicles her life over the seven years it took to record. Singer-songwriter Leila Lopez emotes at Bar Passé... Storied raconteur Billy Sedlmayr depicts at Owls Club...

Saturday, Feb. 24: A très cool assemblage of deejaying, rapping, graffiti art, breakdancing and workshops. Tucson Hip Hop Festival is gonna be dope AF. THHF Director Pike Romero is "super proud" of the diverse lineup: "I feel it captures the spirit of Tucson's [hip hop] culture, future and relevance." Headlining the fest: Bun B, Tommy Will, Era, YNot & FunkRow, Jivin Scientists, Stacc Styles, Lando Chill and more. Bringing the badassery to 191 Toole... On the heels of her latest release Pluto, Katie Haverly performs the album in its entirety solo on guitar and electric piano. With singer-songwriter Casey Golden. At Exo Bar... He is a recent inductee into the American Banjo Museum Hall of Fame. Perhaps best known for time spent as a member of Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, whose cover of Jerry Jeff Walker's "Mr. Bojangles" topped the charts. In the early '70s, The Dirt Band played an important role in introducing mainstream America to traditional bluegrass instrumentation—banjos, mandolins, fiddes—earning string wizard John McEuen a place in the history of American acoustic music. John McEuen and the Circle Band. With special guest Hans Olson. At The Fox Theatre... In 2012, Josh Turner's "Time Is Love" spent 39 weeks on Billboard's Hot Country Charts. "I know I gotta put in the hours/Make the money while the sunlight shines/But anything I gotta get done/It can get done some other time/Time is love, gotta run/Love to hang longer/But I got someone who waits." Well, the wait is over. Turner headlines Country Fest Tucson. With Ashley Wineland, Lucas Hoge, Frank Ray, Sim Balkey, Josh Gracin, Caiden Brewer, Billy Shaw Jr. and County Line. At Tucson Expo Center... Led by Joe Peña, the venerable Greyhound Soul unload a sawed-off shotgun blast of country-tinged blues rock at Bar Passé... Bay Area rapper out touring his latest, Cold Pizza. "I'm sitting on a cloud/I'm puffin' on loud and I'm holding shit down/You know we run things when we come into town." Marty Grimes is "Not Fuckin' Around." At The Rock... Dre Day: Tucson's 4th annual celebration of West Coast hip-hop. DJ Herm, MGM and Dibs will spin. With live sets by The Jons. At La Cocina... After spending a year on the road—making stops at sober houses, Boys and Girls' clubs, dive bars, universities, book and record stores across North America—author of Spent Saints & Other Stories (Ridgeway Press) Brian Jabas Smith shares tales of love, heartache and redemption in his final Tucson reading. Alongside poets Isaac Kirkman, Maggie Go, Cal Freeman and Billy Sedlmayr. With music by electric violinist extraordinaire Barry Smith. Hosted by writer/producer Maggie Harstad, this special evening features screenings of two short films based on stories from the pages of Spent Saints. At Galactic Center...

Sunday, Feb. 25: Holding an audience captive with just an acoustic guitar is no easy task. But it takes more than stellar chops. It's his insight and prowess as a songwriter that has made David Wilcox a folk music artist of distinction. Often compared to James Taylor and Joni Mitchell, his enthusiasm for his craft is contagious. "Music still stretches out before me like the headlights of a car into the night. It's way beyond where I am, but it shows where I'm going." David Wilcox holds court at 191 Toole... Arizona Friends of Chamber Music present pianist Rémi Geniet. The program features works by Bach: Chaconne (Transcribed by pianist/composer Ferruccio Busoni), Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 31 in A-Flat Major, Stravinsky: Three Movements from Petrushka and Ravel: La Valse. At Berger Performing Arts Center... It took this DIY singer-songwriter a decade to become an overnight success. "I don't give a fuck. My fans just want me to do something good. They'll stick with me as long as [it's] real and honest." On Work (Brooklyn Basement Records), the title track to his seventh album, working-class hero Ron Pope brandishes his heartfelt pop/rock like a badge. "Workin' my back as a young man/Taught me I'd rather work my mind/So we'd cop a little smoke/And crack a couple jokes/Just tryin' to learn to survive." With Jared & The Mill and The Heart Of. At The Rialto Theater... Fusing opera with ancient liturgical texts for the Mass of Dead, UA Presents, Verdi's Requiem. Featuring Grammy-nominated True Concord and UA's Arizona Choir. At Centennial Hall...

Monday, Feb. 26: Yep, she sang rock 'n' roll with Slash in Hollywood. But, in her soul resides Erykah Badu. Catch Miss Olivia & The Interlopers at The Parish...

Tuesday, Feb. 27: Since their formation in 1997, this ensemble of operatic Aussies have entertained over 90 million people. This show pays homage to musical legends lost before their time: David Bowie, Leonard Cohen, Prince, Amy Winehouse, John Lennon, Michael Jackson, Freddie Mercury, Whitney Houston and more. The TEN Tenors set off sparks at The Fox Theatre... In 2017, Rolling Stone placed them on their 10 New Artists You Need To Know list. Magic Giant bring boho chic with pop hooks to Club Congress...

Wednesday, Feb. 28: Mixing dubstep with futuristic electronic elements, "Pressure Plates," off Master of Shadows (Firepower Records) shakes the fault lines. Canada via L.A. DJ/producer Troy Beetles aka Datsik will drop a bass bomb on The Rialto Theater. With Space Jesus, Riot Ten and Carbin... There is a carefree cheerfulness to their distinctively Southern California sound. Their first single "Hollow Life" catapulted them onto the indie pop scene in 2015. Coast Modern search for something beyond the shallowness of self-absorption. At 191 Toole. With The Technicolors... Formed in Dublin in 1963, they first gained prominence in America in '75 when their otherworldly Irish folk music—in particular the love theme "The Women of Ireland"—appeared on Stanley Kubrick's Barry Lyndon soundtrack. Led by Paddy Moloney's Uilleann pipes, The Chieftains hold sway at The Fox Theatre...

Thursday, March 1: They each scored chart topping hits during the 1970s with "Amie" and "You Are The Woman." A night of reminiscences awaits when Pure Prairie League and Firefall perform their country rock hits at The Fox Theatre...

SHOUT OUT...

"French chanteuse of desert noir" Marianne Dissard is celebrating the release of her memoir, Not Me: A Singer's Memoir Of Tucson, Paris And A Special Place In Hell, with a public performance. Possessing an instinct for tempering bleakness with self-deprecating humor, Not Me is a brutally honest account of the year she spent in Paris recovering from addiction, depression and suicidality. "Woah. A must-read!" says record producer John Parish (Sparklehorse, Tracy Chapman, Eels). At Studio 148–TY Community Space. "Next door to the Laundromat on South 4th, across the street from the Plasma center and within Tucson Yoga Studio. Could not have made that up. Blood, sweat and suds..."

ON THE HORIZON...

From Gothenburg, Sweden, Little Dragon bring their "dreamy, rhythmical, shifting, moody rainbow" electronic sounds to The Rialto Theater on Tuesday, March 6... Two diverse events are taking place on Wednesday, March 7. Producer/DJ/dance music phenom Steve Aoki is out on his Kolony North American Tour. In 2012, Pollstar (a trade publication for the concert industry) designated Aoki as the highest grossing dance artist touring North America. With Desiigner. At The Rialto Theater... And if hypomanic, hyperglycemic electro/house music bumping while cakes are being thrown from the stage (I kid you not) is not your thing? Grammy Award winning jazz trumpeter Chris Botti will be at The Fox Theatre... This annual music festival brings alt-culture and the contagious release of energy that is rock 'n' roll cannoning into each other. Oi! It's KFMADay. This year's lineup: A Perfect Circle, Stone Temple Pilots, Jonathan Davis of Korn, 10 Years, Two Feet and newcomers Vista Kicks. Saturday, April 14. At Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium...

Until next time, XOXO...