Celebrate Day of The Dead Before The State Makes It Illegal

Calaca Cultural Center Presents:
Sixth Annual Dia de los Muertos Altar & Art Exhibition - “Cajitas & Nichos”
Part of Calaca Community Gallery Series

Arizona Historical Society Museum at Papago Park,
1300 N. College, Tempe, AZ (College and Curry)

October 16th, 2010 to January 14th, 2011
Reception: Saturday November 6th 6pm to 10pm

Featuring: Visual artists, Altar makers, nicho, cajita and retablo makers, including Dia de los Muertos animation videos.

Including: “Viajes de los Muertos-Travels of the Dead” art featuring Arizona and California premier Day of the Dead artists.

Cajitas & Nichos
Every year Calaca’s Dia de los Muertos is brought to the public as a form of art. This year, we will feature the concepts of Cajitas, Nichos and Retablos.

Cajitas are a popular form of ofrendas, altars, and remembrances to a loved one. It is common in many parts of Latin America and parts of the U.S. to see decorative boxes called "nichos" set upon tables and pedestals displaying religious icons. These boxes may serve to mark a significant religious event or to honor a patron saint. Nichos or Retablos are made from mixed media and traditionally combine elements from Roman Catholicism, Mestizo spirituality, and popular culture.

“Calaca Dia de los Muertos Altar & Art Exhibition” was first developed in 2004 as part of continuing Calaca Community Gallery Series. From its initial development, this work has been community based and in character to basic principles with Dia de los Muertos.

Sponsors and Exhibition Partners:
Arizona Historical Society Museum at Papago Park (gallery space), Teleguia en Espanol, Zopilote E-News, El Quinto Sol and others.

more information email info@calaca.com or visit our web site www.calaca.org

The Maine and friends in Tucson

So local boys The Maine will be playing a show on October 28th in Tempe at The Marquee Theatre before dissappearing into the overseas touring abyss. Here's a little taste of how they were when they played in Tucson recently...

It wan evening of band incest...

Do I have your attention?

Every act of the evening had members performing in the other acts of the night. It was like one large band with multiple personalities. The bad seed started first.

Fairline opened the evening with an acoustic set. Dressed like paperboys from the 1930s they played the usual, boring acoustic set that you can hear from most high school bands. They added the twist of providing high pitched whiney vocals to the mix. I think I've hated this band a 100 times before. They played their 3 songs and threatened to do it again, but electric. D

Then Austin Gibbs took the stage to a great excitement of the crowd. He performed a tight Jackie Greene like set (yes, I describe obscure artists with comparisons to obscure artists.) Drummers were switched. Fun was had. I enjoyed his set but was off put by his final and 5th song, which sounded far too Toby Keith for my liking. B

I was very wary of This Century. As a matter of fact I had already written them off as teeny bopper aural fodder. They won me over. Their show was a high energy, toe tapping delight led by their charismatic front man Joel Kanitz. He controlled the mesmerized, capacity crowd, entertaining and acting as if every audience member was a personal friend. "Salifier" turned up the pop with continued success. "No Way Out" begab a foray into a New Edition (yes, I am that old)sound to end the set. A

Then The Maine event began (yes, the pun was intentional.) The came on with a little more maturity than the previous act and a bit of swagger. Smooth vocals with a tone of fire filled the air. They segued into their song "Girls Do What They Like" and didn't have to sing a single word as the crowd provided every vocal. The evening continued in much of the same manner, high energy pop songs engaging the crowd, who responded with enthusiasm. Then a block of acoustic oriented songs ensued, including a matured, solid performance of "Daisy" and a brillant cover of Outkast's "Roses." "Whoever She Is" brought a return to the electric with a very Mathchbox 20 delivery, which I think continued to highlight the grown up direction of the young band. Then things got scary, as they proceded to play the Clash's "Should I Stay or Should I Go." I immediately pictured the pop band commiting great hubris to the punk deities. To my surprise they pulled off a decent, straight forward version of the tune. Then "123" was played and it raised the pop meter above my liking, but the young girls absorbed every ounce. "Everthing I Asked For" opened up a change of tone in the set as the songs became radio friendly songs but with some welcomed distortion and angst which prevented the feeling that the set was running to long. A

The Maine may be too poppy for most, but if you like having fun, I suggest you put the attitude away for a second, and let yourself enjoy!!

Big Event

Announcing the 1st Annual Powellapalooza Music & Boating Festival!!
September 23 - 26th

A 4 day Music, Camping and Boating Festival based out of Page, AZ on Lake Powell.
Tickets on sale here (early bird specials are available now)

WHAT TO EXPECT:

Lodging...
Patrons will be able to camp at the amphitheater venue, rent houseboat hotels or stay at the local area hotels.

Houseboat Hotels ($200 per night and sleep up to 20) stay docked at Antelope Marina. They have 4 bedrooms, a fold out couch, cushioned benches on upper deck, plenty of floor space, hot tub, full kitchen, two bathrooms, a water slide, an upper deck full bar area with fridge and a stereo system.

Entertainment...
50+ Bands covering the Hip Hop, Electronica, Reggae, Funk, Rock n Roll, Country, Bluegrass, Folk, Blues, and Jam Genres
Please view the lineup here

Venues...
5 venues with shuttle service between them will be provided for FREE!
Page Shores Amphitheater (2 stages)
The Solar Saucer (a Solar Powered DJ Booth with sound)
Gunsmoke Saloon
The Blue Buddha Sushi Bar (DJ sets, attached to Gunsmoke Saloon)
Antelope Point Marina (floating restaurant home to the wakeboard competition and the floating houseboat hotels)
Wahweap Marina

Houseboat/Beach Parties...
Every morning 2 houseboats (sponsored to us by Antelope Marina) will travel to various beaches park and have bands play on them for the afternoon. On Saturday Sept 25, we are teaming up with Antelope Marina for their Poker Run and will have bands playing at two beaches (one is Lone Rock beach which can be driven to) and also on a party barge at the Damn. Each of the positions will be a stop for the Antelope Marina Poker Run where boaters from everywhere will stop to pick up their poker cards for the run.

Other Activities...
Fireworks Show - Friday Sept. 24
Golf Tournament - Saturday Sept. 25
Poker Run - Saturday Sept. 25
Wakeboard Competition - Sunday Sept. 26th
Hot Air Balloon Rides

An Interview with The Maine

I got an opporunity to come aboard Tempe's The Maine's ultra swanky tourbus and chat John and Garrett. In my usual fashion, I entered ready to criticize and torture the "rockstars." Instead, what I found was two down to earth musicians enjoying the fruits of their labors. Who knew that I could be wrong?

Derrick: Who is the most effeminate member of your band?

John and Garrett (without hesitation): Patrick.

Derrick: How would you describe the progression from your debut EP to the Black and White album?

John: Time.
Garret: Yeah.
John: Maturing is always a sensitive word but I think, aging and figuring out what we want to sound like. I don't think we'll ever figure it out. We'll always be searching for something new. That's where we were four years ago, we were just very young.

Derrick: You talk about trying to find the sound that you want to sound like, is there a definite direction in mind?

Garret: I think a lot of it has to do with influence. I just think time is a really huge factor, cuz at first I don't think we necessarily knew that it was all right to do your own thing. I think we kind of felt there was a structure because of how other people did things. I think we're slowly veering from that slowly. Hopefully we can get to the point where we're doing our own thing completely.

Derrick: (Talking about the tour bus.) So you say your A/C is out, but this is pretty nice...

John and Garret: Oh yeah it is.

Derrick: Do you feel like you've achieved the rockstar status? Do you want the rockstar status? Do you still feel that you're the same band playing in Tempe?

Garret: I definitely think we're the same band. As for status goes, people can see us however they want, that doesn't mean that's who we are. It's kind of fun to see what people come up with their own ideas of who we are.

John: I think it's all a fascade anyway. No one really knows who we are as individuals anyway.

Garret: Yeah.

John: Unless you're hanging out with us everyday, sitting with us on the bus, you're not going to know who we are, much like we won't know all the people we meet inside.

Garret: There's a connection between the music.

John: Yeah.

Garret: That kind of transcends the gap.

John: I think as far as rockstars...we're too level headed. We come from too sane of a background to let shit like that get into our heads.

Derrick: Is there a club, pre-tourbus, that you guys miss playing. Something dirty?

Garret: Well, there's still dirty venues to play.

Derrick: Yeah, you're about to walk into one.

John and Garret: Yeah.

Garret: The only difference is we have a place to sleep.

John: Yeah.

Garret: We don't have to sleep on the floor of the van. The vibe from the shows from we first started out has gotten to the point where the energy is matching itself every night, and that's awesome. We use to play that church...

John: Yeah.

Garret: That was cool.

John: Yeah.

Derrick: You use to play a church?

Garret: When we first started we use to put together the shows ourselves.

John: Yeah. We were like the promoters of the shows.

Garret: There's something to be said for that. Tim, our manager, was always booking us shows, small local shows.

John: We kind of always did it ourselves.

Garret: Now it's just on a bigger scale.

Derrick: Now I had a chance to talk with one of your fans - Rebecca.

John and Garret: Hi Rebecca. Cool.

Derrick: She wants to know who is your favorite superhero?

John: I'm going to have to say Batman just cause I'm a fan of the Dark Night.

Garret: Yeah, Batman's cool. I'm also going to have to say Spiderman, just cuz he's this nerdy dude with how he grew up and now he just beats ass.

Derrick: You mentioned not caring what people think about you as people. I ran into difficulty trying to describe your music to others, do you have that quick answer description of what genre you fall into?

Garret: I like the primitive.

John: I really don't like the specifics...post-pop...it's rock and roll. It's got guitars, it's got drums, it's got bass, it's got vocals. We're playing instruments ourselves. It always gets frustrating. I think it's just rock music. I think it's music in general. It's just noises.

Garret: Yeah.

Derrick: Is there anything you would want people to know?

Garret: We're going to be testing the waters in the upcoming months. We're going to be testing ourselves as far as writing goes. I think that's where longevity will stem from if we hopefully get to play music for a really long time. Where our heads are at now, it's all about the song writing.

John: So we're going to try to take it to the extremes...as far as we can go, that's where we're going to take it. Hopefully people will enjoy it.

Derrick: Is there a band, national or local that you would like to punch in the face?

Garret: Punch in the face? No.

Derrick: Awww, you guys are going to play nice?

Garret: If anyone has a problem with us, we probably don't know them. And even if I did know them, I probably wouldn't care.

Derrick: Do you think that you could take them?

John: No (everyone laughs)...I know what I like and I'm not going to worry about the shit I don't care for either.


The Maine will return to Tempe October 28th @ The Marquee Theater.

Madlibs with The Maine

I got a chance to play Madlibs with John and Garret from The Maine!




TRUE STORY!

Pre-order The Constellation Branch's "Mirage"

Original artwork by Aaron Motley
Pre-Order The Constellation Branch's new album "Mirage" set to release September 17 from Hello, Merch. Check out a new track "Hold Your Own"

AND...

Catch them live:

8/20/10
The Rogue Bar
Scottsdale, AZ

8/27/10
Yucca Tap Room
Tempe, AZ

8/28/10
First Christian Church
Phoenix, AZ

9/03/10
Neighborhood Thrift Cafe
Fresno, CA

9/04/10
Nickel City Arcade
San Jose, CA

9/05/10
Clockworks Cafe
Salem, OR

9/07/10
The Funhouse
Seattle, WA

9/08/10
The Camel House
Portland, OR

9/09/10
Kimo's
San Francisco, CA

9/10/10
Plea For Peace Center
Stockton, CA

9/11/10
Tribal Cafe
Los Angeles, CA

9/17/10
CD RELEASE SHOW!!!
Sail Inn Bar
Tempe, AZ

Something to do when you're not naked...

The Trunk Space Presents:
"The Grid 2010: Here & Gone"
July 16 through September 13, 2010

WHAT: An exhibit inspired by some of Phoenix’s most eye-catching vintage buildings.
WHERE: The Trunk Space, 1506 NW Grand Ave, 602.256.6006. thetrunkspace.com
WHEN: Grand opening on Friday July 16 with special receptions on Aug. 6 & Sept. 3.
WHO: Various Artists: Aaron Abbott, Tommy Cannon, Stephanie Carrico, Steve Jansen, Kevin Patterson, Marchall Shore, Lisa Takata, Douglas Towne.
WHY: Experience both how much of Phoenix’s fascinating past architecture has been lost and honor the vintage structures that have survived.

Additional Info:
This marks the 5th year of the Grid Project, an annual tradition at the Trunk Space (located next to the Bikini Lounge). The exhibit’s purpose is to document the changes happening in our community. This year’s edition focuses on establishments that serve as our connection to a different time in Phoenix, and how the surviving structures can give us a new perspective on our ever growing city.

Guest Curators:
Doug Towne, 602.540.4622
douglas.towne@prodigy.net
Marshall Shore, 602.373.5421
marshall.shore@gmail.com

Douglas Towne – A prominent historian, Doug specializes in unearthing tales of previously undocumented places and events in the Valley. His articles on quirky Arizona history have been featured in the Phoenix Magazine, the Journal of Arizona History and the Phoenix New Times. He also serves as editor of the Journal for Commercial Archeology, the oldest national organization dedicated to 20th Century roadside architecture. Doug’s art, which incorporates historical advertising and is as much social commentary as it is homage to the past, has been featured at several local galleries (see http://www.neonmotel.com).

Marshall Shore - Heralded as the Valley’s “funkiest” Information Curator, Marshall has for several years been exploring and presenting local history. Previously he explored ways in which libraries interact with their users as library coordinator with the Maricopa County Library District. Since then, Marshall has explored his passion by bringing the unique people and architecture from Phoenix’s past back to life through presentations at venues such as the Heard Museum and his monthly show at Phoenix Metro Retro. His rollicking tours of the Valley are available for booking (see http://marshallshore.com & http://www.fuoundaz.com)

“People moving to the Valley often have the mistaken impression that there’s little architectural history here,” says Guest Curator, Douglas Towne. “The problem is we’ve razed so much of it—which makes the surviving structures all the more valuable and important to our city.”


www.thetrunkspace.com
We are located at:
1506 NW Grand Ave
right next to Bikini Lounge!
Join our mailing list at:
http://thetrunkspace.com/newsletter/?p=subscribe

Race You There Covers Katy Perry

Remember 2mara?

Well she won't stop talking about these guys...



MINATURE TIGERS are going on tour!!! Need a road trip? I thought so, Miniature Tigers are giving away an unreleased MP3 of B-side "Turquoise Jewelry" when tickets are purchased to the Spaceland show.http://www.ticketweb.com/snl/Search.action?query=miniature+tigers&REFERRAL_ID=twflash

Batucaxé (pronounced bah-too-cah-SHEH, which means "the blessing of the beat") is a non-profit drum and dance ensemble and school that was formed in Tucson, Arizona, in 2001. Inspired by the music of Brazil, we feature the music and choreography of many traditions from all over the world. Our goal is to inspire creativity, openness, community solidarity and collective joy through lessons and classes, outreach programs and high-energy performances. In 2009, we were the Tucson Tammies Award winner in the World Music category. We released our first CD, "The Blessing of the Beat," earlier this year. Visit http://www.batucaxe.org/ to learn more.
The CD is available to purchase online at: http://batucaxe.org/mp3player.htm (a few sample tracks are online as well). Fans can also buy the CD at the following Tucson locations: Bookmans, 1930 E. Grant Rd., Antigone Books, 411 N. 4th Ave., Bohemia, 2920 E. Broadway Blvd., and both locations of Zia Record Exchange, 3370 E. Speedway Blvd. and 3655 N. Oracle.



Check out our interview with Batucaxe on June 30th @PM

We're back!!!! I think. This is Derrick and I'm testing this out and saying "hello" to all of you out there. Send your mp3's to derrick@azoverload.com and your shows to the same or to myspace.com/screwyrabbit.