Tucson Weekly: Soundbites (October 9

Sound Bites DIVA DE TUCSON: Tucson's own petit version of the Lillith Fair, Diva de Tucson, celebrates local women in music on Saturday, October 11, outdoors at the Bangkok Cab Company Restaurant, 411 N. Fifth Ave. The event features, in order of appearance: Milkseed, Womb, The Annie Hawkins Band, The Mollys and Jensing. Milkseed's claim to Divadom resides squarely with the band's enigmatic center, Sapphire Kieft. New to the scene, Womb is an all female trio playing what they refer to as "krunchy kinetic music." Neat!
Since her return to Tucson last spring, Annie Hawkins has been on the rise, and with the additional groove of a funk-based rhythm section, The Annie Hawkins Band is taking Tucson stages by storm. She's a gifted guitarist and performer whose vocal performance is distinctive and impassioned, falling somewhere between Alanis Morisette and Ani Di Franco. Annie's songwriting bears marked similarities to that other Ani's as well, but that's no complaint. She's got my vote to steal the show.
Diva de Tucson is presented by the Tucson Musician's Network and a variety of sponsors, with 20 percent of the evening's proceeds donated to benefit the Tucson Rape Crisis Center. The gates open at 4:30 p.m., with several local organizations disseminating information about community services for women. Show time is 5:30 p.m. Tickets are $6 in advance, $7 day of show. For more information, call 795-5476; or visit the website at http://www.tucsonet.com/diva.
RAINER: Rainer Ptacek has once again fallen ill--tragically his brain cancer is no longer in remission. His upcoming appearances have been canceled, but his many friends gather once again to support him and his family through this latest patch of rough road. Upon hearing the news, longtime friend Howe Gelb broke away from Giant Sand's European tour to return to Tucson. Rainer was the scheduled headliner this Friday, October 10, at Club Congress, 311 E. Congress St., and in the wake of recent events the show will proceed as a benefit for the musician and his family. Gelb will be performing in Rainer's stead, with a solo performance following sets by Chris Holiman, Chris Burroughs and Creosote. Cover for the show is $5. Call 622-8848 for more information.
WHADDA YA KNOW, JOE? Bazooka is back for another show at 10 p.m. Friday, October 10, at the Luna Loca, 546 N. Stone Ave. The group is sporting the same four-piece line-up (Vince Meghrouni, Steve Reed, Don Carroll and Jeremy Keller) as their last sensational yet poorly attended Tucson/Luna Loca appearance. Bazooka is back on the road to support the September release of Sonic Business Environment, their second full-length CD on SST Records. For anyone who didn't catch the group the last time around, Bazooka is dizzying to watch; and, judging by the more straight-forward approach to the music on its new release, the show should reveal more punk roots. Meghrouni and Reed met while touring with Mike Watt in '95, which in and of itself should translate into: WOW!
I'm hesitant to attempt to pigeonhole the group's sound, but the Chico News & Review nailed it as "post-loungepunk, lo-fi prog bop core punk-jazz." Anyway, to give you some idea of what to expect, local jazzcore skronk masters Cortex Bomb will be absolutely ideal in the opening slot. Call 882-4488 for more information.
LAST NOTES: Avant garde musician Eugene Chadbourne returns Saturday, October 11, to the Airport Lounge, 20 E. Pennington St. Chadbourne will once again be joined on the bill by Bob Log III, who everyone knows and loves from Doo Rag--or just from spotting him, goggle-clad, errantly tooling around town on his unforgettable green chopper. Barely Bipedal opens the show at around 10 p.m. Call 882-0400 for more information.
Country/contemporary/folk singer-songwriter and comedienne Cheryl Wheeler plays an intimate show beginning at 8 p.m. Saturday, October 11, at the Community Church of the Foothills, 480 E. Ina Road. Sapphire Kieft, lead singer for Milkseed, opens the show with a solo performance hot on the heels of her set with Milkseed at Diva de Tucson. Tickets are $12 in advance and $14 at the door, with a $2 discount for KXCI members. Call 327-4809 or 887-5413 for more information.
Just so you can say you read it here first: Enrique Iglesias (that's right, son of the legendary Julio), whose elaborate press pack outstrips the Rolling Stones' by a long shot--honestly, in addition to the bio and copy of his CD, Vivar, there were four color slides, three 8-by -10 glossy black and white photos and four 8-by-10 full color pasteboard posters!--will perform in the TCC Arena on November 26. Ticket information is soon to be released.
Sponsors, sponsors. Where to find them? They just might be closer than you think. Fruit of the Loom provides the big bucks backing the Fruit of the Loom Country Comfort Tour and Experience, visiting the Blockbuster Desert Sky Pavilion on Friday, October 10.
I'm pretty clear on the details of the tour, but the "Experience" still eludes me. Somehow Fruit of the Loom finagled quite a fine show for fans of country, featuring country superstars Hank Williams, Jr., Travis Tritt, Charlie Daniels and Jo Dee Messina. That's the tour; and now for the Experience: Apparently, as you head into the show through the grand entryway, you pass underneath two 10-foot-long effigies of Gibson guitars, on into the Experience, which features attractions like the mobile Country Music Museum dubbed "Tennessee Treasures," as well as "five tents and three semis of...high-tech family fun." There will even be a virtual reality tent where you can virtually jam with one of the performers on the tour. According to Charlie Daniels, "This is not just a concert, this is a happening." And there you have it.

--Lisa Weeks

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