'PIPELINE' TO O'MALLEY'S
It seemed a bit odd to us when O'Malley's played host to an Agent Orange show last December. After all, the sports bar/college hangout usually hosts local covers-heavy bands in its back room, and Agent Orange don't exactly fit that bill.Formed in Fullerton, Calif., in the late-'70s, Agent Orange merged punk rock with pop melodies and surf-rock guitars and in the process became a prototype for virtually every band after them that combined punk with the tenets of skateboarding culture. (Read: They basically invented skate-punk.) On their first album, 1981's Living in Darkness, the band covered the surf classics "Miserlou" and "Pipeline," while creating a classic of their own, "Bloodstains." The song, ubiquitous on early '80s hard-core comps, featured a Middle Eastern-esque riff played in the surf-guitar style, along with the chant-along chorus, "blood stains / speed kills / fast cars / cheap thrills / rich girls / fine wine / I've lost my sense, I've lost control, I've lost my mind." If you've never heard it and are curious what that guitar riff sounds like, have a listen to the Offspring's megahit "Come Out and Play (Keep 'Em Separated)," which "borrows" said riff wholesale.
From there, the band would go on to release a pair of EPs, then several more LPs, remaining slightly enigmatic by leaving five or six years between each album. In the process, the band grew up both literally and figuratively, further expanding their sound while remaining fairly true to the blueprint. After releasing 1996's Virtually Indestructible, the band seemingly all but disappeared (though a compilation of their early work, Sonic Snake Session, was issued in 2003).
Which made it all the weirder when the trio came to town for that O'Malley's show, which, according to one show attendee, was "fucking awesome." And which makes it double-weird that this week, the band returns to the same venue, less than four months since their last show there.
Don't miss your second chance to see punk pioneers Agent Orange at O'Malley's, 247 N. Fourth Ave., on Saturday, March 30. Doors open at 8 p.m., and openers are The Hounds and The Breakdown. Advance tickets are $8; they'll be $10 at the door. For more information, call 623-8600.
WHIMSY AND WISDOM
Springtime always seems to bring with it a spate of new local releases, and this week the ball gets rolling in style. Indie-poppers The Swim and screamo newbies The Gallery both have CD-release events this week (see Rhythm & Views for reviews of both albums), as does singer-songwriter Bob Einweck.Einweck's new offering is Bungalow (One Bun), a 14-track collection recorded mostly by former Tucsonan Steve Perkins at his Creation Recording Studios in Tustin, Calif. Einweck's songs sound something like a more tuneful John Prine if he had grown up in the Southwest instead of the Midwest. In a rich, full tenor, he tells life tales full of humor, whimsy and wisdom. A perfect example is "The Back of My Mind," which combs through the narrator's formative experiences, both good and bad, and implies that they've made him who he is today: "They say it's learned behavior / that men don't cry / Makes me wonder who would teach that to a child / It surely ain't the people / who been whuppin' my behind / But I'm happy to say / I feel good today / with these memories in the back of my mind." That's just one of the many gems to be found on Bungalow, another winning collection of tunes from a small Tucson treasure.
Bob Einweck celebrates the release of Bungalow with a CD-release party at 6:30 p.m., Saturday, March 29, at Terraza del Sol at Hacienda del Sol, 5601 N. Hacienda del Sol Road. Admission is free, and dinner and drinks will be available. Reservations are recommended. Call 299-1501 for further details.
Einweck will also be performing at Barrio Brewing Co. , 800 E. 16th St., at 6:30 p.m., Friday, March 28. Call 791-2739 for info.
UNOBTAINABLE ROMANCE (AT LEAST AT THE BOX OFFICE)
For the each of the last three years, My Chemical Romance have appeared on the cover of an issue of Spin magazine; in 2005, the magazine's readers named the band their favorite in the annual readers' poll; in that same year, Spin's staff placed MCR at No. 13 on their list of Best Current Live Bands. And their most recent release, 2006's concept album The Black Parade, went platinum--no easy feat in the age of file sharing.So it should come as no surprise, then, that the band's show on Saturday, March 29, at the Rialto Theatre, is sold out. Those looking to gain entry might want to hop online, where at press time, tickets were available for only a few bucks more than the original $35 face value. You'll likely never have the opportunity to see them at such a small venue again.
CORNUCOPIA O' JAZZ!
Those who bemoan the lack of live jazz in Tucson don't have much to complain about this week. Here are three fine options to sate your hunger.The Tucson Jazz Society (TJS) presents its 29th Annual Primavera: Celebration of Women in Jazz this weekend, featuring a very special guest performer, Diane Schuur. The Grammy-winning singer and pianist will be accompanied by her original, '70s-era Tucson band--TJS founding president Jeff Daniel, TJS charter board member Fred Hayes, Craig Faltin and Howard Wooten. Schuur, who mixes classic pop songs of the '50s and '60s into her largely jazz repertoire, last month released Some Other Time (Concord), a collection of tunes from the Great American Songbook by such composers as George and Ira Gershwin, Rodgers and Hammerstein, and Irving Berlin.
Diane Schuur performs at 7 p.m. on Saturday, March 29, at Loews Ventana Canyon Resort, 7000 N. Resort Drive. Advance tickets are available through TJS or at Bookmans for $35, or $25 for TJS members. Premium reserved table seating is also available, for $75. For more information, call 903-1265 or head to the Jazz Society Web site.
TucsonJazzRadio.org and La Placita Village have teamed up to present a series of shows they've dubbed Jazz at the Village, and this weekend marks the first installment.
From 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday, March 30, the John Einweck Latin 4 will present, according to a press release, "a Latin jazz and poetry excursion." Future installments include the Kuhn and Boone Quintet ("standards, bossas and hard bop") on Sunday, April 6; "The Billie Holiday Show" with Stevie Woods on Sunday, April 13; and The Tucson Downtown Jazz Fest on Sunday, April 20. Tickets for the March 30 and April 6 shows are $10, or $5 for students. For more details, call 203-7901. La Placita Village is located at 110 S. Church Ave.
As part of the Main Gate Square's "Almost Free Fridays" series, Park Avenue Records, a UA student-run label, will present "An Evening of Jazz" from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., Friday, March 28. The show will feature singer Katherine Byrnes, Jeff Haskell on keys, bassist Gerald Massoud and percussionist Drew Andreatta. Admission isn't just "almost free"; it's totally free. Main Gate Square is located on University Boulevard between Park and Euclid avenues. For more information, point your browser to the Main Gate Square Web site.
