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BIG SHOWS AROUND TOWN: If you've been doin' time at The Cage, 5851 E. Speedway, then you know it's been a long time since the nightclub featured live music. This week The Cage doors swing open with a triple bill featuring L.A.'s Fluorescein, Tucson's own much-loved Shoebomb, and The Kinder Size from south Cali. The L.A. headliners are touring their recently released DGC long-player, High Contrast Comedown. If you're wondering about the bizarre moniker, the band takes its name from an ophthalmic pharmaceutical used to dilate the pupils for the purposes of examination. You say it "flur-es-ee-un." Lead singer and primary inspiration Greg Mora had occasion to deal with the substance in the course of his lab work researching Alzheimer's. An interesting change of careers, but, given the choice, who wouldn't prefer rock stardom over tedious hours in a white lab coat, bent over cadavers?
The band sprouted from the musically fertile slopes of Silverlake, gathering its members from various other bands, including 60 Hum Cycle, 3-D Picnic, Space Twins and 1,000 Mona Lisas. I like them because their straight-ahead rock sound reminds me a little of another Silverlake band called Lifter. Openers the Kinder Size eschew the whole Orange County swing/ska scene, opting instead for a sound that's more in line with Green Day's pop flavor and the Smashing Pumpkin's metallic tang. As you might gather from the name, they're a relatively young band--the oldest member being just legal at 21--but judging by their release, The Rear View, they should know how to handle themselves on stage.
The Club Congress boasts two live shows this week, hauling in some big-name talent currently in heavy rotation on alternative radio, as well as producing a fine show of local and regional bands assembled as a benefit for the Southern Arizona AIDS Foundation.
Our Lady Peace appears with Black Lab and the Mayfield Four at 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 7, at the Club Congress, 311 E. Congress St. The show is 18 and over and tickets are $10 in advance, $12 at the door. Rocking for a cause: Phoenix buzz band Trunk Federation--voted Best Local Band on the Verge in the 1996 Phoenix New Times Music Awards--headlines a benefit show on Friday, April 3, at the Club Congress. The benifit also includes such local luminaries as James Dead, Hobart, How To Build A Rocketship and the Cassadines. Word has come back to me that the Cassadines put on one helluva show opening for the fabulous Bedhead a few weeks back, a performance that I, unfortunately, missed while en route home from SXSW. Both How To Build A Rocketship and Hobart gave fine performances at the recent almost Pop Fest held at Press 101, and it's no secret that James Dead truly rocks! The event is 21 and over, and tickets are $5 at the door. Proceeds from this show benefit the Southern Arizona AIDS Foundation. Call 622-8848 for information.
And if all the bubblegum pop and modern rock is just too much, there are several fine cultural music events to choose from this week. The Arizona Early Music Society presents an instrumental trio--Eva Legêne, recorder, Weiland Kuijken, viola de gamba, and Arthur Haas, harpsichord--in concert at 3 p.m. Sunday, March 3, in St. Philip's In The Hills Episcopal Church, 4440 N. Campbell Ave. The artists will give a free, pre-performance discussion of their work at 2:30 p.m. Tickets are $13 at the door, discounted to $10 for seniors and $3 for students. And the SPICMACAY club (Society for the Promotion of Indian Classical Music and Culture Among Youth) hosts a special evening of traditional ragas performed by west Bengali sitarist Manilal Nag. Concert is at 5 p.m. Sunday, April 5, in the UA Social Sciences auditorium. If Spring Fling is too far-flung, head on down. Call 881-3471 for information. LAST GRUMBLINGS: In case you haven't heard, tickets for the Eric Clapton show on May 25 at the America West Arena went on sale Saturday, March 28. I mention this not because I am a stalwart Clapton fan, nor because I endorse the show. Rather, I simply can't believe the appalling ticket prices. The best seats are $75, mid-range seating a mere $45 and the cheap seats are $32.50. These prices don't include sales tax or all those fun little service charges. Somehow Clapton manages to get away with this, escaping the popular perception of being a greedy asshole. And there's no doubt in my mind the show will sell, regardless of the utter outrageousness of the prices. If, instead of Clapton, it were Paul McCartney pulling a ballsy stunt like this, there would be no end to the crowing about the bastard's near criminal lust for cash.
Gat-Rot celebrates the release of their new CD, Strength
Through Struggle, at
... And some very last minute information: Blonde Redhead
performs with Amor Belhôm Duo at 9 p.m. Tuesday,
April 7, at Press 101, 101 W. Fifth St. Show is all-ages and tickets
are $5. Call 884-0278 for information.
--Lisa Weeks
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Mora boasts a music career that began at age 4 at the piano,
learning with the help of his dad. Some years later, he became
a member of the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra. He's been writing
songs since the tender age of 12, and was already a 10-year veteran
of the L.A. music scene, with some time spent pluckin' bass for
the likes of Lutefisk prior to engendering the first incarnation
of Fluorescein.
Fluorescein appears with 
Our Lady Peace, the Canadian answer to northwest grunge
and all things alternative, should be familiar to KFMA listeners
for their tritely titled homage to innocence lost, "Superman's
Dead," or the CD title track "Clumsy." Much less
like Nirvana than Alice in Chains, the band employs a chunky,
compressed big Gibson sound tailored by neat, highly produced
flourishes that nod weakly in the direction of 
LAST NOTES: Spring Fling! The organizers of Spring
Fling usually do a nice job of showcasing a wide variety of local
music, as well as bringing in a heavy-hitter or two, and this
year is no exception. Events this year take place Thursday through
Sunday, April 2 through 5. Featured performers for Spring Fling
'98 include the Annie Hawkins Band on Thursday, One
Blood and Pathos on Friday, 112, DOA,
Bad Newz Blues and Equinox on Saturday, and Bloolyte
and Mariachi Atzlan on Sunday. Shows begin at 5
p.m. weekdays and at noon on the weekends. All concerts take place
on the UA McKale Lawn and are free with Spring Fling admission.
Call 621-5610 for more information about Spring Fling events.
