Music to Your Ears

The Ground Beneath Gets Live—Steve Civerolo, lead singer and guitarist of Burque metalheads The Ground Beneath, called me from somewhere in Missouri last week. It was the second time in as many months I've talked to the band from their touring vehicle, The Van Beneath, while en route to a gig outside New Mexico. This is not a band of slackers. (Steve keeps a complete log of every show the band has played at www.thegroundbeneath.com.) And to put an exclamation point on all the intense touring and promotion they do, TGB is made up of just three people. (Although I like to think of their long, luxurious hair as the group's fourth member. It's silent but violent.)

TGB will release their second album, a surprisingly souped-up live recording called Deficient: Live at the Launchpad, this Sunday, June 17, at—where else?—the Launchpad. The show is $5 if you're 21-or-over, $7 for the all-ages crowd. Catch them before they're on the road again.

Early Birds Catch the Show—Music people are not known for their punctuality. Then again, we're equally infamous for our poverty, which is sometimes enough to get us out of bed and lined up for cheap seats. This week, you can save a small wad of cash on two of the season's best offerings. Call the Thirsty Ear Festival (505-473-5723) before Wednesday, June 20, to shave $10 off their $65 weekend pass. The roots music festival is Aug. 31-Sept. 2 at Eaves Movie Ranch in Santa Fe. Consult thirstyearfestival.com for the full schedule. Here in Albuquerque, you've got until Saturday, June 23, to save $5 and $10 on this year's massive ¡Globalquerque! festival, going down Sept. 17-21. Check www.globalquerque.com for a lineup and info on scheduled talent from all over the globe.

Radio on the TV—Don't be surprised if you see some familiar faces from the music scene on your idiot box this Sunday. The New Mexico Music Commission is airing the second pilot episode of their "New Mexico Southwest Sounds" series twice this weekend on KOAT-TV 7.

Scenic footage from around the Land of Enchantment will be spliced with performances recorded at the National Hispanic Cultural Center by film students from Santa Fe Community College. This time around, the show will feature Spanish-language cowboy Tobias Rene, the premier windpipes of jazzy Cathryn McGill , southern New Mexico bluegrass prodigies Daybreak Express and piano pop princess Jenny Marlowe. (The first episode, which aired May 12, piled on an even more amorphous collection of music from Ben Martinez, The Dirty Novels, Ramon Bermudez and Ronald Roybal.)

If you're up late, catch the first showing on Saturday, June 16, at 2:35 a.m., or at a more reasonable hour on Sunday, June 17, at 1:30 p.m.

For auditions and information on future shows, bookmark the commission web site, newmexicomusic.org. They should have some updates posted after July.

Get Awesome!—Just because they don't have a building doesn't mean Santa Fe kids can't still get awesome. On Friday, June 15, the folks at Warehouse 21 are soldiering on with their fourth yearly Get Awesome Fest, this time at The Moon (a new venue, formerly Club Luna, at 519 Cerrillos Road, Santa Fe). Show up and pay nothing for tons of bands, snow cones and other fun stuff. And it's all-ages, of course.