As a young kid with a burning drive to consume all things Rock 'n’ Roll, be it every last word written in Creem, Crawdaddy, or Rolling Stone, building my record collection at all cost, every image, lyric or liner note till they were secured by genre in my head (I don’t recommend this path, but I think, much like a mole or birthmark, dear reader, you may scoff at my faculties, but I know I am not alone). So, in summer of '73, I took note of a new of a new British band called 10cc. As it turns out, they were hardly naive or new or to the game. Between the four members, they’d penned hits for The Yardbirds, The Hollies, another charted in '66 with "A Groovy Kind of Love” and was in Wayne Fontana’s Mindbenders, minus Wayne, playing in the band in the film To Sir With Love. Another member built his own studio and one spent two nostalgic years with teen idol Neil Sedaka.

The four even sent a finished project to The Beatles’ Apple label, to no avail; just the misadventures of four skilled songwriter/producers who were tripping the same wire for better or worse. Yet, their self-titled debut album came out held the enigmatic homage to The King’s Presley’s "Jailhouse Rock," with a Beach Boys-influence, and a nod to the ongoing troubles in Northern Ireland. “Rubber Bullets” went to number one in the U.K. and scratched the surface of the U.S., where the Attica Prison rebellion and other big house catastrophes were still a-smolder.

So, I bought the record and was both engaged and confused by the album as a whole, which was clearly clever and skilled, but somehow missing a certain conviction and depth that I was drawn to. They were sardonic but self-conscious, perhaps too smart for their own good; but, this single, with its lead guitar part, tweaked to sound like mice, could not ruin this gem. The sweet bridge soars, it’s where the prison padre is called in to talk to his boys in falsetto on the act of faith to set them free. It then springs back to the rocking (and glamish) shuffle and reports to the coming glory, a sham, the same ol’ story—Well, we don’t understand why they called in the National Guard/When Uncle Sam is the one who belongs in the exercise yard/We all got balls and brains/But some got balls and chains/At the local dance/At the local county jail. This homoerotic thrust one-upped The King and, even though comical, done with a bridge this beautiful … well, you’ll listen again and again. A subject, now, in most every hip-hop commentary, “Rubber Bullets” leaves a stamp unlicked on a letter long since sent. 

Tonight on the televised edition of Zona Politics with Jim Nintzel: I talk with Tucson City Councilwoman Regina Romero about Prop 101, the city's ask for a half-cent sales tax to fund roads and public safety, as well as her reaction to the Trump administration's push against so-called sanctuary cities, the city's new hands-free smart phone ordinance and other city issues. Then I introduce you to Tom Tronsdal, one of three Democrats seeking to replace retiring Tucson City Councilwoman Karin Uhlich in Ward 3.

Tune in to Zona Politics at 6:30 p.m. on Cox Channel 20 and Comcast Channel 74. The show repeats at 9 a.m. Sundays on both channels.

On the radio edition of Zona Politics: I talk with Tucson City Council candidate Felicia Chew, one of the other Democrats seeking to replace Uhlich in Ward 3. (The third Democrat is Paul Durham, just FYI.) The radio edition airs at 5 p.m. Sunday on community radio station KXCI, 91.3 FM, and at 1 p.m Saturday and 11 a.m. Sunday on Tucson progressive radio station KEVT, 1210 AM.

It's the final weekend for the Pima County Fair! Tonight, you'll hear from modern jam band Dirty Heads alongside all the carnival rides, deep-fried foods, cute critters and other fun that makes up one of our favorite annual shindigs. Tomorrow, country star Tanya Tucker and Latin sensation Septima Banda hit the stage and on Sunday, you'll hear from Kip Moore, who is a sure favorite of certain staff members at Tucson Local Media. You'll find all the details here.

"Streets of This Town" is a little daily photo series featuring random pics I take on long walks through Tucson—to sort of coincide with Tucson Salvage.

The Best of Tucson ballot has been up for a week now, offering up its annual chance for you to tell the community about your local favorites. This year's ballot looks a lot like last year's ballot, with a few new categories sprinkled in. The most notable additions can be seen in the Spirits & Nightlife categories: Best Jazz, Best Folk, Best Reggae, Best Cover Band, Best Punk, Best Rock, Best Hip-Hop Act, Best Country Act and Best R&B.

Don't care about music? Don't worry. You only have to fill out  a minimum of 30 (out of 202) of the categories for your ballot to count.

Having trouble logging in? Send me an email: Chelo@tucsonlocalmedia.com.

The popular live comedy show Estrogen Hour returns to Laff’s Comedy Caffe with a potential sell-out on Sunday, April 30. The line-up features Esther Brilliant and Corrina Eklund as the show’s traditional “comedy virgins,” community leaders performing stand-up comedy for the first time.

Supporting the “comedy virgins” are Estrogen Hour co-founder Nancy Stanley, cartoonist David Fitzsimmons and attorney and comedian Elliot Glicksman, who has opened for Jerry Seinfeld and Phyllis Diller. Tucson comedian Mo Urban fills out the bill, along with Phoenix comics Kelly Kerr and Genevieve Rice, and Tucson newcomer Steena Salido. Rice runs the annual Bird City Comedy Festival in Phoenix.

Brilliant, a Pima County Public Defender, is a member of Tucson Improv Movement and the all-female improv team, The Riveters. In November 2016, she co-founded a 5,500-member grass-roots organization promoting widespread political engagement. Eklund, is event coordinator at the UA’s James E. Rogers College of Law.

Stanley is widely credited with cultivating the women’s comedy scene in Tucson, in part by providing stage time for newcomers at Estrogen Hour shows. Stanley says, “When we started The Estrogen Hour there were only a couple of women regularly hitting open mics or hosting. Now we could easily do a marathon with (them.) It's such a very cool time for women in Tucson comedy.”

But, Stanley stresses, "We like to change it up. We know The Estrogen Hour audience is women who like supporting other women and love to laugh, but are not necessarily comedy club regulars. They're loyal to this show, so we try to vary what we do to hold their interest.” Those whom Stanley refers to as “guestosterone”, the high-profile locals Fitzsimmons and Glicksman, are expected to attract new fans to the show’s loyal following.

Stanley founded the Estrogen Hour with Mary Steed to raise funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. “The first Estrogen Hour fundraiser at Laff’s was in October 2014,” Steed says. “In nine shows, we’ve raised just over $16,000 for LLS.” The amount includes the proceeds from reservations and from a raffle featuring donations from local businesses.

Stanley, says, “I'd like to see us break the $20,000 mark in the next show or two.”

Reservations are $12 at tinyurl.com/marylaffs2017. Unreserved seats, if any, are sold at the door. Laff’s Comedy Caffe, 2900 E. Broadway Blvd., also has a two-item minimum. Visit @TheEstrogenHour or @llsaz on Facebook and Twitter for more details.

Rhiannon Giddens is playing Saturday, April 29 at the Rialto Theatre, 318 E. Congress Street at 7 p.m. Tickets to this all ages show are $26-$28—unless you're lucky enough to win a pair from us!

You can read about the show in this week's Weekly. Here's a snippet: 

"This was an album that came into being as we were doing it. You can't think too hard about it." Giddens would much rather do the prep work, build the team, and then watch what happens. "I can't work any other way. I really believe in holistic, organic music making. You craft these relationships and collaborations, and then you let it happen."

So far, the response has been enthusiastically positive, even on the other side of the world. The new album's debt to U.S. history wasn't a barrier to audiences on Giddens' recent Australian tour. "If people from outside of the States are into this music, then they have an understanding and an interest in the history," she observes. "I always find that very interesting. People are willing to dig into the slavery and civil rights aspects in a way that not everybody at home is."

Not that Giddens is only interested in preaching to the choir. Her natural instinct for collaboration has led to her working with everyone from cellist Yo-Yo Ma to Iron & Wine and New Orleans icon Allen Toussaint. Last year, she wound up on mainstream country radio, when an edited version of Eric Church's "Kill A Word" with Giddens' featured vocals became a Top Ten single.

"I don't ask 'what am I getting paid?' I'm always like, 'does that sound like a cool thing to do?' I don't worry about anything else, and that's served me well," she says apropos of the pairing. But what about performing on The Tonight Show and at the CMA Awards? "I take it all with a grain of salt. If doing something like ["Kill A Word"] will help more people learn about what I do, that's great, but I really don't care about the glitz and the glamour."

Interested in attending? Enter here and we'll pick a winner on Friday, April 28:

"Streets of This Town" is a little daily photo series featuring random pics I take on long walks through Tucson—to sort of coincide with Tucson Salvage.

Yes, the United States has a long history of welcoming immigrants from around the globe. During the last decade more than 6.6 million naturalized citizens were welcomed into the crucible. The cost of citizenship is becoming prohibitive to permanent residents before being able to complete the tedious naturalization process necessary to take the oath of allegiance.

Join the damn cause already. Che’s Lounge will be the site for a weekend-long Benefit for Naturalization—featuring the music of Gabriel Sullivan, Brian Lopez, Carlos Arzate & The Kind Souls, Tom Walbank and guests—to raise money to assist two adopted and beloved Tucson Musicians, Tom Walbank and Thøger Tetens Lund, in their quest for citizenship.

Saturday, April 29 at 10 p.m., globetrotting local heroes Gabriel Sullivan and Brian Lopez will deliver sets accompanied by full band.

Sunday, April 30, Carlos Arzate & The Kind Souls and bluesman extraordinaire Tom Walbank will perform in the evening starting at 6 p.m.

Che’s Lounge, 350 N. 4th Avenue. No cover. A portion of the proceeds from bar sales will go towards the cause.

Bullets whiz, whistle and rip with a darkly comic ferocity in Free Fire, the latest from little known but super talented English director Ben Wheatley.

Wheatley has quietly been establishing himself as a solid indie director of action and horror with obscure gems like Sightseers, High-Rise and A Field in England, along with one of the better installments in the horror anthology The ABCs of Death.

With Free Fire, Wheatley gets to employ his action-directing prowess along with sharp dialogue and snap acting. He’s working with his biggest cast yet that includes an Oscar winner in Brie Larson, along with Armie Hammer, Cillian Murphy and Sharlto Copley. The film is co-produced by Martin Scorsese, and the setup sounds like the sort of movie he should be making.

Two groups come together in a deserted Boston warehouse sometime in 1978. Things go awry, and the whole movie becomes one elongated shootout where everybody is taking bullets, and the losers will easily outnumber the winners. The movie is a blast, thanks in large part to Wheatley’s staging of the event, and the actors (especially Hammer) taking it to great heights. There’s some mystery involved in the payoff, but it’s secondary to the action, which is appropriately disorienting at times. I couldn’t always tell who was shooting who, but this works for the movie in adding to the chaos of the situation.

Throw in an extremely well placed John Denver song, and you have what amounts to a solid, eccentric step in the evolution of Wheatley, a white-hot director who is just getting started.