Music to Your Ears

The Return of Fast Heart Mart

Wipe away your tears, acoustic grunge lovers of Albuquerque. In late April, I shared Fast Heart Mart's announcement that a family emergency could call Burque's beloved singer/songwriter away to the East Coast. But the winds of fate have shifted, and all is well again: FHM isn't going anywhere. He's already lined up a boatload of interesting performances for the summer, including a show with Kate Mann on Friday, June 5, at the Albuquerque Center for Peace and Justice. And on Thursday, June 4, FHM is making a rare appearance as himself—Martin Stamper, the songwriter, all alone—at The Albuquerque Songwriter Series. The free show is at Slate Street Café (515 Slate NW, one block north of Lomas between Fifth and Sixth Streets) from 7 to 9 p.m., and it features the added creative juices of Johnny Wilson of Chokecherry Ranch and CK Barlow.

We're not the only ones feeling appreciative to have him back. Roblyn Crawford, Stamper's backing multi-instrumentalist, interviewed several key members of New Mexico's dynamic music community and wrote a piece looking back on 10 years of Fast Heart Mart. Read it exclusively at alibi.com.

Plum Loco

Oh, gosh. If Rod Lacy's "press release" is any indication, this Saturday's album launch is going to be a lot of fun. Item by item:

1 large brown paper sack with “*June 6th* Release Party Atomic Cantina" written in black Sharpie

2 Plum Loco CDs, written, performed, recorded and produced by Rod Lacy

2 windup toys (monkey, robot), 2 Topps "Wacky Packages" and 1 small rubber chicken (sand-filled)

1 smaller brown paper bag filled with 1.5 ounces Vigil's beef jerky (red chile) and 40 ounces Olde English malt liquor

While highly flavorful, the package doesn't tell you that live, Lacy's all-new tunes will be fleshed out by The Old Main, or that ska-punk Black Square and El Paso's stunning Mexicans At Night will share the bill. And that it's all free and 21-and-over. That's my job. You can't take that away from me, Lacy, bribes or not.

For the Children

I'd like to quickly draw your attention to two all-ages music festivals happening this weekend: The Compound's annual Gathering of the Sick celebration of all that is rude, crude and socially diabolical is on Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 3206 San Mateo NE; and Awesome Fest revisits Santa Fe's Warehouse 21 on Saturday with a mixed bag of music whose sole common denominator is "awesomeness" (so the kids say). Both events are crammed with bands, and both are drug- and alcohol-free. Consult the Alibi's music calendar for times and pricing.