Thursday, April 4
Perhaps best known for his early work with The Fabulous Thunderbirds, this Texas guitar legend has gone onto be hailed by Guitar Player as a "virtual guitar deity." That's right. Jimmie Vaughan brings his sharp retro style to the Rialto Theatre. Local shredder Michael Hebert and Michael P. jump start the evening... "They're back." The kind of girls immortalized in Cheap Trick songs. "Returning from the Thunderdome," Sugar Stains reanimate old haunts. At Sky Bar. With DMV Area experimental indie rockers StereoRiots and the swampy garage rock of Black Medicine... Inspired by the works of Cuban painter Carlos Estévez: Entelechy. Transforming an idea into reality, field recordist/sonic alchemist Karima Walker provides the soundtrack for an evening of spoken word and poetry featuring performances by writer Raquel Gutiérrez. At Tucson Museum of Art... Fronted by the engaging voice and songwriting of Australian Acey Monaro, Austin indie poppers with a psychedelic bent Go Fever hawk daydreams at Club Congress. Flanked by local indie rockers La Cerca and upmarket tropical cowboys Golden Boots... Delight in the shadowy folk pop of Natalie Pohanic at Tap + Bottle Downtown... Presented with the improvisational spirit of jazz and the heedlessness of rock 'n' roll—from sold-out clubs to yoga ashrams—Nick & Luke truck their Americana-rooted originals, jazz standards and old-timey bluegrass liturgy to Monterey Court. Followed by the reunion of Summerdog... Live large. Smile broadly. Big Grin unspool their homegrown brand of Southwest indie folk at Harbottle Brewing Company... Bearing a verisimilitude to the authentic, Red NOT Chili Peppers engage in "Californication" at 191 Toole...
Friday, April 5
"And We Thought That Nation States Were a Bad Idea." Ska punks Mad Caddies Punk Rock Steady at 191 Toole... La Cocina is the point of detonation for The 34th Annual Tucson Folk Festival Kick Off Party. Various performers will take to the stage... Performing acoustically, rock 'n' roll survivor Billy Sedlmayr lives to tell about it at Wooden Tooth Records...
Vocalist/guitarist John Ronstadt & Round Midnight perform jazz, as part of the Spring Concert Series, on the patio at Hotel Congress... "My second symphony is a confession of the soul." In a program that focuses the spotlight on late Romantic period, Finnish composer Jean Sibelius' Symphony No. 2, Tucson Symphony Orchestra and TSO Chorus perform at Tucson Convention Center. Michael Stern is at the podium... Imagine this. Pink Floyd classics performed on bluegrass instruments. Lucky Side of the Moon breathes, breathes in the air at Monterey Court... Wedding traditional folk and world music, Kylo sets the tone musically for an evening of romantic intrigue, political conspiring or solitary musings. At Exo Roast Co... An odiferous and morose night of mayhem awaits when Shitbag, Dayak, Lasiodora, Moon Curser and ijustsawyoudie are at Ward6... Marley B headlines GLDN Party: A proper banger. Kontraband Klick, Slave Name Flick, TK Been Poppin', T.D.T.ENT share the mic. At Club Congress... Help youth Mariachi Corazon celebrate their 10th Anniversary at El Casino Ballroom. Proceeds from the event will help to fund their participation in 15th Annual Battle of the Mariachis at the historic Mission San Juan Capistrano... Metal Fest XVII finds Skoville, Beneath The Fallen Suns, Never Say Never, Tribulance, Dirtnap, Animate Echoes and Minutes to Midnight taking siege of the Rialto Theatre...
Saturday, April 6
This nine-piece ensemble melts down the music and rhythms of Cuba, Mexico, Jamaica and Brazil with funk, rock, jazz and hip hop to extract a new sound without borders or boundaries. B-Side Players storm into 191 Toole. With Tucson's own Taco Sauce in tow... Ballet Rincon and the Tucson Museum of Art and Historic Block's Education Department present Art in the Park. An afternoon of family-friendly, youth-based performance art, art making, food trucks y mucho mas awaits. Featuring performances by Arizona Opera, Tucson Arizona Boys Chorus, Arizona Theatre Company, Vail Youth Symphony Orchestra and the UA School of Dance. At the DeMeester Outdoor Performance Center in Reid Park... Sludgy indie rock trio Hotline TNT are "Calling Out 2 You" at Club Congress. Alt rock/shoegazers Hikikomori and The Trees lend support... In a program of new works by Mexican composers—ranging from danzas (stately turn-of-the-20th-century ballroom dances) to folk inspirations—The Arizona Wind Quintet presents Homenaje a Mexico at Exo Roast Co... Tucson Kitchen Musicians Association presents The 34th Annual Tucson Folk Festival, Saturday and Sunday, April 6-7. Red Molly, Heather Hardy and Mr. Nature's Garden top the bill. At Jácome Plaza in historic Downtown Tucson. Find the full schedule at tucsonfolkfest.org... Saint Charles Tavern hosts a Folk Fest after-party. With festival performers: With Lucky Lenny (bluegrass/Americana), Sister and the Sun (folk/soul) and Larry and Leslie Latour (folk/Americana)... The Spring Concert Series continues, with guitarist extraordinaire Pete Fine's Beyond Words inducing aphasia on the patio at Hotel Congress... Subspace will transform into an immersive cavern of projection and light installations. DJs spin. BYOB Tucson (Bring Your Own Beamer) Dance Party... This North Carolina native fuses soulful vocals with blazing blues guitar riffs. Emily Musilino wails at Monterey Court... Guitarist Mike Sydloski joins the Mike & Randy 420 Show at The Hut... Roman Barten-Sherman's fingerstyle blues guitar sets the mood for the opening of Head in the Clouds, visual artist Valerie Galloway's new series. At Crooked Tooth Brewings...
Sunday, April 7
From Barrio Santa Rosa, this bajo sexto and accordion-driven conjunto specializes in a polka and traditional Mexican steeped sound so intoxicating that one can easily lose their inhibition and dance with abandon. Pedro Y Los Liricos play música norteño in a post-Cyclovia after-party. At Exo Roast Co... The Tucson Folk Festival continues. Check out the Sunday schedule at tucsonfolkfest.org... The horn, percussion and electric guitar propelled Latino sound of Santa Pachita manifests, as part the post-Cyclovia celebration—just how Tucson's Complete Streets demonstration project will quickly transform the intersection of North Sixth Avenue and East Seventh Street into a vibrant people-centered place—at #CorbettPorch Activity Hub... Take a walk on the moon. Indie/ambient trio Moontrax, Phoenix rockers Panic Baby and the picante Taco Sauce are at Club Congress... Featuring former members of Dokken—George Lynch, Jeff Pilson, "Wild" Mick Brown and vocalist Robert Mason—The END Machine are out touring in support of their self-titled debut recording. At Club XS... Like your toast with jam? Mik & The Funky Brunch provide family-friendly funk. At La Cocina... Praised for his jackhammer-like flow and lyrics that uplift, underground hip hop artist Mostafa celebrates his latest release L.B.O.L. (Little Bit of Love) with DJ Will alongside Jae Tilt, Street Blues Family and Odd Apollo. At Sky Bar... Hurricane Carla Brownlee & The Bad News Blues Band are slated to perform at The 19th Annual Zin, Blues and BBQ. At Hacienda Del Sol...
Monday, April 8
Nada. Stay home.
Tuesday, April 9
Blues rock guitarist Kenny Wayne Shepherd forges headlong into the Rialto Theatre. With bluesmen Austin Counts and Tom Walkbank opening the show... With lush vocal harmonies and an organic folk sound that enchants and uplifts the spirit. The Real Sarahs create magic at Passé...
Wednesday, April 10
Expect the unexpected. DJs Carl Hanni & Steven Ramshur indulge the muse by spinning everything from Afro-beat to classic honky-tonk. The Suffering Jukebox expiates sin at Exo Roast Co... California post-hardcorists Modern Color and Salt Lake shoegazers No Sun create contrast at Club Congress. With local support from The Trees and Carnival... Jude Valentine, Jarod W. Spencer, Alice Caroline and Ranelle Mathews comprise the evening line-up of the Touring Songwriter Showcase. At Passé...
Thursday, April 11
UAPresents Alex de Grassi and Andrew York. In a program suffused with diversity, New Age fingerstyle steel-string acoustic and nylon classical guitars interlace at Crowder Hall... Singer-songwriters Nancy & Neil McCallion perform original Americana acoustically. At La Cocina... A new musical conglomeration, Tongs, features Chris Peña on keys, trapsman Tom Beach and bassist Chris Pierce. At Tap + Bottle Downtown... Guitar-driven pop duo Sales celebrate "Chinese New Year" at Club Congress. With Atlanta "pool rockers" Lunar Vacation... West Coast hip hoppers SOB X RBE bring the Strictly Only Brothers Tour to 191 Toole. Sneakk, Peacoat Gang, Ricky P., Tommy Will and YOUNG TUC share the bill...
Shout Out
One of the longest running hometown musical institutions celebrates 25 years. The mighty Greyhound Soul is at Che's Lounge on Saturday, April 6...
On The Horizon
On Saturday, April 20, A Benefit For No More Deaths features performances by Vicki Brown, Carlos Arzate, Amy Rude-Smith, The Possibles, Leila Lopez Band y mas. At Exo Roast Co. Proceeds to benefit No More Deaths; a humanitarian organization whose mission is to end the deaths and suffering of undocumented immigrants in the borderlands...
Until next week, XOXO...
