Tag: music

Peter Frampton Plays Ring Master

July 22, 2014 |
Peter Frampton opens for Deep Purple at Le Zenith on October 20, 2013 in Paris, France. Photo: David Wolff - Patrick/Redferns via Getty Images

Peter Frampton opens for Deep Purple at Le Zenith on October 20, 2013 in Paris, France.
Photo: David Wolff – Patrick/Redferns via Getty Images

Forget about Ringling Brothers’ “Greatest Show On Earth!” Peter Frampton’ Circus — his Guitar Circus, to be precise — is much more bad-ass with its guitar-shredding virtuosos like B.B. King, Buddy Guy and Robert Randolph on board.

Now in its second year, Frampton says the concept for the tour-in-three-parts grew simply out of “woodshedding on an idea” with his manager Ken Levitan for something to follow the 2010-11 Frampton Comes Alive 35th Anniversary Tour. Says Frampton, the reaction to the that tour was so overwhelmingly positive that they “decided that we had to do something thematic so that I could compete with myself… and to have something that was a little bit more interesting than just another Peter Frampton concert.” Frampton explains that he simply “wanted to have as many guitarists as (we) could possibly have on the stage” for the next round of shows. Levitan came up with the name. The rest is legend.

Frampton is as thrilled about the show’s lineup as any of his fans might be, and he credits B.B. King for the long list of A-listers that made appearances along the way last year. “We put the idea out there…and lo and behold, immediately the first call that we got back was from B.B. King,” he says.

After that, Frampton says the phone was “ringing off the hook” with interested artists like Vince Gill, Robert Cray and Kenny Wayne Shepherd — guitarists in every genre from jazz to pop. Frampton says that the plan with the Circus was to celebrate “guitars in general,” and so the abnormal lineup of legends was more than welcome. It also has the effect of providing a chance for fans to see something new at each show. Last year, says Frampton, “(Jazz legend) Larry Carlton and (Cheap Trick’s) Rick Nielsen played with me on the same night, and you can’t get more different than those two.”

Frampton’s 1976 album Frampton Comes Alive, which spawned such hits as “Baby I love Your Way” and “Do You Feel Like We Do,” is one of the top best-selling live albums of all time. Though famous for his heavily synthesized sound, the ideology of diversity associated with the Guitar Circus tour has bled over into other arenas of his career. His most recent album, Hummingbird in a Box (released June 2014) was actually written with long-time collaborator Gordon Kennedy as a performance piece for the Cincinnati Ballet. Much like while jamming on stage with music’s biggest superstars, when writing music for dance Frampton says, “the rules go out the window. Because you’re not writing for radio… it can be whatever I want at any given point.”

This as opposed to constantly conforming to the rigid production standards of radio-ready music. Which employer would you prefer?

The August 31 show at AVA Amphitheater marks the end of the first leg of the 2014 Guitar Circus tour and Frampton promises that the guys that night will be “going out with a bang.” It seems Frampton himself is as pumped for the Tucson show as anyone. Since scheduling often prevents multiple big names from showing up to play at every stop on the tour, Frampton says that having King, Guy, Randolph and himself all at the same show is “pretty heavyweight… to get them all together in one night is a coup.”

Lucky us. A word of advice for concert goers: bring earplugs with you if you don’t want your head to explode.

Peter Frampton’s Guitar Circus comes to Tucson’s AVA Amphitheater, 5655 W. Valencia Rd., on Sunday, Aug. 31 at 6 p.m. Tickets and more info available at FramptonsGuitarCircus.com and CasinoDelSolResort.com/ava-amphitheater.

 

i’ll see you at: the babies’ show

December 7, 2012 |

I’ll see you at Topaz. Duh. Do I go see shows anywhere else*? Kind of… Not really… Because (a) I don’t get out much (unless it’s to sit on Holly’s patio and drink a beer) and (b) there’s really something cool about being to support the endeavors of lovely people with whom you share real-life personal connections, and, as I’ve said before, I think what Krysta & Joel are doing is really cool—so I get out there and show some love! Oh, and bonus (c) the cover at Topaz is always pretty minimal.

ANYWAY, y’allz should all come and check out BABIES at Topaz next Tuesday, December 11th. You might’ve heard of either Woods or Vivian Girls… Well, Babies is what happened when those bands procreated. Or rather, when Kevin Morby (Woods) and Cassie Ramone (Girls) started making music together as a casual side project—a “casual side project” which is today serious enough that the Babies are in the middle of a wide-sweeping national tour. Stream the Babies’ album here to see if this is the kind of music you’d like to see in concert—I’ll bet it is. Wistful yet straightforward, with arrestingly direct lyrics, the Babies make the best kind of indie/pop/rock (y’know the kind of music I’m talking about? Guh, this is why I never talk about music).

*I saw Math the Band the other day at Solar Culture, actually. WOAH STOP THE PRESSES. Unfortunately, I suck and didn’t take any pictures.

 

 

 

 

interview: krysta + joel of TOPAZ

October 25, 2012 |

OK. This might just be me, but y’know those sort of projects—be they restaurants, artistic creations, street festivals, zombie poodles, what have you—that make you think, Wow, who the hell was cool (or crazy) enough not only to come up with this idea but actually pull it off?  Now, I’m not claiming they’re up there with Calexico or equals to Christo and Jeanne-Claude (yet) or that they’re half as genius as whoever discovered that putting Mentos in Diet Coke makes the whole thing explode, but Krysta and Joel—the couple behind Topaz—are pretty damn awesome.

(Photo credit: http://www.topaz-tundra.com/sample-page/)

In case you haven’t stumbled across it yet, Topaz is the unassuming-yet-totally-rad arts venue situated on a bare stretch of St. Mary’s Road just east of the freeway. I covered one of Topaz’s shows a while back, and earlier that same day I was lucky enough to get to sit down with Krysta and Joel for an interview. I was curious to find out what inspired the creation of an arts venue as eclectic and unique as Topaz. How did it all come together? I ask them. Krysta and Joel exchange glances and then Krysta explains, almost sheepishly: “It happened by accident, pretty much.” So the story goes: Krysta was looking for a studio where she could work on her photography, and Joel needed space to store the vintage clothing he collects (and now sells—on Topaz’s second floor, known as Zia Vintage). “It was only once we’d found this particular spot that we realized, Hey, we could do shows here,” says Krysta. “It was very much the physical space itself that inspired us.” As Topaz illustrates in its very existence, a willingness to embrace instability, random strokes of insight, and fortuitous accidents can be a spectacular asset.

They were enthusiastic, but Krysta and Joel weren’t sure what sort of reception Topaz would get in the Tucson arts scene. Accordingly, they were thrilled when they found “a lot of respect, no drama, no pressure,” explains Joel. “If we’d done shows and no one’d come, we would’ve done something different. But there was support from the start,” and lots of people were eager to collaborate.

“We think of Topaz as a creative platform, so we love it when people approach us with ideas. We don’t have an overarching vision,” Krysta explains. “Or, rather, our vision is open-ended.” Topaz is primarily a music venue at the present moment (with 100% of profits going to the bands they host), but Krysta and Joel foresee an expansion into more polished art shows, poetry readings, literary events, and film screenings, among other projects.

So if you’re one of the many people in Tucson who would love to see the art scene of this city thrive, check out Topaz. It’s one of those crazy/cool ideas come to fruition that can inspire and enrich us all. And don’t forget to check the Zocalo Hannah blog for more Topaz updates—I’ll be keeping them on my radar, for sure!

in pictures: show @ topaz

October 12, 2012 |

This past Tuesday, the venue Topaz hosted band Dream Salon (of the Pacific Northwest) and rounded out the night with performances by locals Ohioan, Sam Christopher, and Death Moth Family Band. Pictures below (in no particular order, sorry—and I’m also sorry that I’m such a shitty photographer). Also, check out the exclusive mix posted on Topaz’s website, featuring songs by Dream Salon and Death Moth Family Band, as well as other performers at Topaz, both past & to come. Finally, stay tuned for an even-more-exclusive-than-Topaz’s-exclusive-mix-interview (in other words, an interview) with Krysta & Joel, the stupid cool (that’s a compliment) founders/creative directors/artistes extraordinaires/brains behind Topaz. Chyeah!

P.S. Lots of photos of June, of Death Moth Family Band, who is super rad! Hopefully gonna be interviewing her, too, at some point in the near future… Stay tuned.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

i’ll see you at… RAW showcase

September 26, 2012 |

Headed to the RAW showcase tomorrow at Plush to check out some budding artistic talent of Tucson. From the RAW website:

“RAW’s mission is to provide up-and-coming artists of all creative realms with the tools, resources and exposure needed to inspire and cultivate creativity so that they might be seen, heard and loved. RAW educates, connects and exposes emerging artists in 54 artistic communities across the United States and Australia, through monthly showcase events. Join us in celebrating the work of these artists…

RAW events are multi-faceted artistic showcases. Each event features a film screening, musical performance, fashion show, art gallery, performance art and a featured hairstylist and makeup artist. These artists are all local, hand-picked talent who have been chosen to feature at RAW.

RAW events feature a cash bar for cocktails while you enjoy the night. Dress code is cocktail attire, so dress the occasion and get ready for an artistic circus of creativity!”

See you there!

 

música: tom walbank @ che’s

September 23, 2012 |

L to R: Connor, Jake, and Tom at Che’s Lounge on Saturday, September 22nd.

I’ve seen Tom Walbank play at Café Passé a few times — he does a solo show every Friday evening for “Blues Under the Trees” on the Passé Patio (the opening act is Roman Barton Sherman, a kid — literally, like, nine years old — who frickin’ busts out some old man blues music. It’s nuts!). But it was really fun to see him play at Che’s Lounge last night, where he drew a fatty crowd and rounded out his sound with the addition of drumz (Jake Sullivan) and gee-tar (Connor Gallaher). Wherever he happens to be singing and guitar-ing and harmonica-ing his heart out, Tom — an Englishman who calls Tucson his real home for real — can blues it up like no other, and I highly recommend checking him out. More about the spectacular Mister Tom Walbank at ze MySpace and his website. Peep it, yo.