Tucson Weekly: Soundbites (November 20

Sound Bites WELCOME BACK! It's official. At long last the doors of the Rialto Theater are OPEN! And in celebration, the Rialto Foundation is hosting a special "Welcome Back" bash at 9 p.m. Saturday, November 22, featuring Houston-based Carolyn Wonderland & The Imperial Monkeys, along with semi-locals Phonoroyale. The Welcome Back party gives everyone an opportunity to head downtown and get reacquainted with the theater, to the tune of some terrific live music.
Carolyn Wonderland & The Imperial Monkeys (Eric Dane, Chris King and Eric Olson) are the perfect band for the occasion--for the past six years they've been packing houses all over Houston.
Wonderland plays bluesy, country-fried rock and roll that hordes of critics (including me) liken to Bonnie Raitt and Janis Joplin. Their Justice Records debut Bursting With Flavor was released last March, and the band's been pushing it hard since on a national tour.
Suave, swanky Phonoroyale also has cause to celebrate, with a brand-new release called Radio Flavored. It was selling briskly at their Cottonwood Café gig last Saturday night, no doubt spurred on by that evening's inspired playing. They sounded about the best I've ever heard them, stirring spirited hipsters to a frenzy on the dance floor. We're hoping for a repeat performance this weekend.
The Welcome Back Party at the Rialto Theater, 318 E. Congress St., is only $3 at the door, and all proceeds will help raise the mercury on the fiscal thermometer outside the historic structure's entrance. As a tribute to all who've so generously supported the Rialto project since the doors closed over a year ago--Friends of the Rialto, The Rialto Foundation, TJS, TBS and KXCI--members of these organizations will be admitted free of charge. Call 740-0126 for more information.
GO-MAN-GO! The first and last time I sat in the audience, bearing witness to the spirit of the great American troubadour as channeled by Roger Manning, I was on the second story of a retired Masonic hall, cross-legged on the floor among a group that numbered only a few dozen. I think it was snowing outside. Manning was the main attraction: an earnest young man with an acoustic guitar, feisty and passionate in song, reserved and gently candid in between. He played while leaning against a stool, his grown-out Mowhawk shagging in his eyes. His voice was Dylanesque and surprisingly high pitched, and that night he had a penchant for breaking guitar strings.
At that point in his career (about a decade ago), Manning was singing the blues--the "#14," "#17 Blues," "Strange Little Blues," and "Blues for the Chosen Few," to name a few--all songs from his self-titled SST Records debut. He was just the sort of inspired folkie-poet politico, international subway and street performer that couldn't have been more out of vogue in 1988, unless you looked just to the left of the mainstream...and there found Billy Bragg, Suzanne Vega, Michelle Shocked and Tracy Chapman.
I'd like to call myself a great fan of Roger Manning's, but I've followed his career only in the most casual way since that initial experience. (I just missed his performance at SXSW last spring.) In some respects that makes me worse than unwitting: What's more tiresome than a fan who's stuck harping on how great the first album was? Even so, this fan is urging you to make a point of arriving early enough to see Manning open for headliners Big Sandy and his Fly-Rite Boys at 9:30 p.m. Friday, November 21, at Club Congress, 311 E. Congress St.
Big Sandy's been feelin' kinda lucky lately, and rightly so. He and the boys recently made their second appearance on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, and opened a series of shows with Son Volt earlier in the year. Their swing through the Southwest bypassed Tucson this past summer, but they apparently put on one hell of a show at the Dingo Bar in Albuquerque (in support of their third High Tone Records release, Feelin' Kinda Lucky). No big surprise there--Big Sandy and his Fly-Rite Boys have a reputation for putting on fantastic live performances, so gear up for a night of honky-tonkin' swing-jump-roots rock, following Manning's opening set. Cover is $4 at the door. Call 622-8848 for more information.
LAST NOTES: The Pork Torta returns on Saturday, November 22, to The Airport Lounge, 20 E. Pennington St. The Duarte Six, with whom The Pork Torta shares members, have long since returned to the Old Pueblo following their jaunt around the country on a series of concert dates with Crash Worship. The tour was not without its casualties--the band was forced to ditch their van and most of its contents in the heartland when the engine blew up, making for cozy travel conditions for the rest of the tour.
Three-piece T.O.P. Set rocks hard on the opening slot. Call 882-0400 for more information.
A few well-deserved words on last Friday's J.C. Hopkins/Calexico show at The Airport Lounge: Hopkins and his band returned to the Lounge with a sensational follow-up to their ill-fated appearance last August, during which they experienced all manner of equipment troubles. Hopkins went through the audience, apologizing to everyone and promising to return to give it all he has. He and his band did that and then some. Calexico opened, treating the audience to material from their recently re-released Spoke, with help from Tasha Bundy and Howe Gelb. John Convertino defined inspired eloquence on the drums. Saving the best for last, though, Hopkins and crew, Calexico, Gelb and reluctant audience recruit Jefferson Keenan (Phantom Limbs) jammed solidly as one big musical family for more than 20 minutes, creating a spellbinding aural cornucopia. Wow!
Saturday's Goldfinger show, with the Aquabats and Warsaw, has been canceled due to apparent "scheduling conflicts" at The Cage Nightclub. No alternative date has been set. Tickets will be refunded at the point of purchase. Sorry, kids.
On the upswing, though, if you're cashing in your refund at The Cage, you can pick up tickets for the newly rescheduled Phunk Junkeez show, with special guests Incabus, Dislocated Style and guest DJ Dave Wave, slated for 8 p.m. Friday, December 5, at The Cage, 5851 E. Speedway. Tickets are $12.50 in advance, $13 day of show. Call 885-3030 for more information.
The Tucson Weekly extends deepest condolences to all affected by the passing of Rainer Ptacek. Apropos of his generous spirit, next week's Thanksgiving issue will feature a special tribute, written by friends and family, remembering his life and his music.

--Lisa Weeks

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