Burnt Bread and Butter

Firemen snuffed out the blaze two months ago—Jesus, that happened two months ago—but the air around Downtown is still seeded with whiffs of greasy, black smoke.

Laura Marrich

No longer the bloody guy in his underpants

It's 2005 at the Emerald Lounge in Phoenix. Alan George Ledergerber starts his set, strips down to his underpants and throws his shoes and clothes into the crowd. One of the shoes hits some guy's girlfriend in the face. The guy throws it back at Ledergerber. "He's about to get up and fight me," he says. "Then I give him a thumbs up and he's OK with the whole thing. Then I proceed to smash my face in with a guitar and wander around the bar in my underpants, bloody and taunting people for the next 20 minutes or so. That was the end of the set."

Hip-hop that knows its history

MC Runt and DJ Deeko feel like they're a dying breed in hip-hop.

James Owens (aka MC Runt) and older brother Jason (aka DJ Deeko) started as unknowns in 2000, handing out thousands of homemade CDs to passersby. Now their hip-hop outfit, Jivin' Scientists, is an established fixture of the Tucson music scene. "We make very touchy-feely hip-hop," James says. "I think the genre is becoming less personal, to where now people make a few songs, get a few plays on their MySpace, and then think they can start playing shows, without really recognizing what it takes."

For the Owens brothers, making a name for themselves required an understanding of where hip-hop came from and an awareness of the days when funk samples were as common as today's vocoder trend. "You need to be experiencing the full culture," Jason says. "A lot of MCs don't go out and support b-boys, graffiti writers and DJs, but then they get mad at those guys for not coming to see them. Why should they support you if you're not doing the same for them?"

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Alms for Drinky

Rent's due, but these guys haven't had a steady paying job since the Golden West fire closed the Launchpad on Feb. 28. Help feed, clothe and shelter out-of-work Launchpad employees over two nights at Ralli's Fourth Street Pub and Grill (21+). Up Friday, May 2, is The Porter Draw, Lousy Robot, Bellemah and Unit 7 Drain. Saturday, May 3, gets rougher with Flood the Sun, Vale of Miscreation, Caustic Lye, Suspended, and Icky and the Yuks. Both shows start at 10 p.m. and are free, but your donations make all the difference. (LM)