Thursday, Dec. 6
On the heels of their 10th studio album, Shiny and Oh So Bright Vol. 1/LP: No Past. No Future. No Sun, The Smashing Pumpkins are "Marchin' On" into The Rialto Theater. With the androgynous darkwave of Drab Majesty... A night of neo-soul/funk awaits at Club Congress with J-Calvin and Mesquite... Suupaa-mecha-kingu rockers Daijaiku faceoff with doom surfers Mission Creeps in a double monster-headed mashup at Sky Bar...
Friday, Dec. 7
Was it his impressive technique—utilizing tapped harmonics, looping, finger-style picking, multiple capos and all 10 digits—and intricately layered arrangements that prompted Acoustic Guitar Magazine to christen guitar virtuoso Trace Bundy "Most Promising New Talent" in 2008? Find out for yourself at The Fox Theatre... Baracutanga is a multicultural dance extravaganza that specializes in arranging South American rhythms in exciting new ways. At Monterey Court... Lil Ugly Mane and Gatecreeper join forces with Sex Prisoner and Bloodlust at Club Congress. DJ Jock Club spins... "You're In It." Country music trailblazer Granger Smith rides into the AVA Amphitheater... Rockin' Christmas in the Barrio, featuring Los Nawdy Dawgs is a fundraiser/toy drive for Christmas in the Barrio. At The Rock... Phoenix's Hooker Cops, Earacher, Psycloptopus and Critical Miss wreak havoc and issue violations at The District Tavern... GLD Dig: DJs Ripdee and White Shadow spin hip-hop and house at Mr. Head's... I Will Remember It All Differently, synth-pop/power-noise/electro band Alter Der Ruine resurface at Cans. With Not Breathing and Trees Speak... Before closing time, catch the "Last Call to Heaven" and dive deep into the dark folk/country storytelling of The White Buffalo at 191 Toole...
Saturday, Dec. 8
The Rise of the Octopeel Tour featuring Dirt Monkey with Subdocta rolls into Gentle Ben's... The Squirrel Nut Zippers are bringing their infectious West Coast swing sounds when their Holiday Caravan Tour slides into The Rialto Theater... Their latest Providence is a reference to founding member Nicolas Nadeau's escape to art college in Rhode Island and the intense gravitational pull of the local noise/experimental scene which became the therapeutic outlet to navigate his lifelong feelings of isolation. Enveloped in a wall of reverb, Single Lash emotes at Club Congress. With local shoegaze brethren Mute Swan... Holiday Horns, a Yuletide extravaganza featuring the UA Horn Studio, is on the plaza at Hotel Congress... Perhaps ironically, alternative burlesque troupe, Tucson Libertine League takes the edge off the brisk night air. Chill: A Celebration of Winter embraces the season at 191 Toole... Rilen Out celebrate the release of Hold My Beer, their first EP, at The Rock. With Sucker For The Sour, Los Streetlight Players y más... POG: Poetry in Action presents a poetry and verbal art performance by Teré Fowler-Chapman and Susan Thackrey at Steinfeld Warehouse Community Arts Center... Roch hosts Pushing Buttons: A Monthly Producer Getdown. This time around Blank, d[foRm], Dadsdad y un chingo mas create beautiful noise at Cans... After graduating from the University of Arizona more than a decade ago, Cameron Hood took a leap of faith and moved to Boston. There he and Ryan Green became street-performers at historic Quincy Market. After impressing a college booking agent they were thrust into the college touring circuit. Catch International Acoustic Music Award winners Ryanhood at The Fox Theatre...
Sunday, Dec. 9
After heeding the word of a Venice Beach drug dealer to follow his heart and pursue a musical career, a spiritual awakening befell. Deriving his playing style from flamenco and Gypsy music, classical guitarist Estas Tonne, is a self-styled "modern-day troubadour." Take in "The Breath of Sound" at The Rialto Theater... Con Todas Las Fuerzas, Banda MS bring the sound of Mazatlán, Sinaloa to the Tucson Arena... Metalblade Recording artists Whitechapel, after a very long wait, bring their 10 Years of Exile Tour to The Rock... Jingle Jam 2018: All-day All Star Toy Drive features Jacques Taylor and the Real Deal, K-Bass, The Falcons, Dub Society, the Brian Berggoetz Band, One Heartbeat and Funk Bunnies. At Chicago Bar... Performing a variety of contemporary, folk and traditional seasonal music, the angelic voices of the Tucson Girls Chorus: Sounds of Winter soar at The Fox Theatre... Indigenous hip-hop outfit AudioPharmacy plays a benefit for Sustainable Nations: Grassroots Development for Indigenous Sovereignty. At Club Congress with writer/poets Leilani Clark and Teré Fowler-Chapman... With performances by Domingo DeGrazia's Spanish-Guitar Band, mariachi and folklorico groups and a Yaqui Deer Dance ceremony, the annual festival of La Fiesta de Guadalupe celebrates Mexico's patron saint at DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun...
Tuesday, Dec. 11
Sweet young punks pair with grunge pop/riot grrrls for a winter tour. Skating Polly and Potty Mouth take the nip off the air at Club Congress... The Grey Gorilla, Bay Area underground rapper Ramirez, trucks the License to Kill Tour into 191 Toole, itching for "40z and Shorties..." Singer-songwriter Daniel Del Valle brings somnambulant indie folk of Sleepwalker's Station at Monterey Court...
Thursday, Dec. 13
Roots rocker John Butler started his musical career humbly busking on the streets of Fremantle in Western Australia. Multiple ARIA and APRIA awards later he has become one of the most successful recording artists in the land down under. The John Butler Trio+ brings Home to The Rialto Theater. With the beatbox/soul/folk of Dustin Thomas opening... This 12-member ensemble—featuring former members of Alice Cooper, Rainbow, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Ted Nugent and Broadway veterans—perform rock opera. Wizards of Winter: Tales Beneath a Northern Star are at The Fox Theatre... K-Love Radio's Christmas Tour features Big Daddy Weave, Brandon Heath, Sarah Reeves, Becca Bradley and Jonathan Chu. At Tucson Arena... Spektrum: Danse Macabre "celebrates the cold winter within our souls." DJs Ricky Strange and Nullus spin at R Bar...
On The Horizon...
The Destroyer, DJ/producer Damian Higgins aka Dieselboy, bumps mad bass 'n' drum beats on Friday, Dec. 14 at 191 Toole. With Thomas B and Table Manners... Also on Friday, Dec 14: Something lo-fi? The nostalgia-obsessed, lo-fi pop delicately crafted with vintage electric pianos and drum machines of Advance Base—the brainchild of pained soul Owen Ashworth (formerly of Casiotone for the Painfully Alone)—is at 191 Toole. With the lo-fi, psych-folk of Lisa/Liza and the haunted, found sound experimentalism of Tucson's Karima Walker... Saturday, Dec. 15 finds these wildly creative indie rockers continuing to dream and build new worlds. The Live Video Tour is part film screening, Q&A session and rock concert all in one. OK Go encode DNA with music at The Rialto Theater... Finally, his compositions have been recorded by The Everly Brothers, Johnny Cash, Carly Simon, Norah Jones, George Strait and others. Esteemed songsmith John Prine plants seeds from The Tree of Forgiveness at The Fox Theatre, also on Saturday, Dec. 15...
Until next week, XOXO...
