“The time between the notes relates the color to the scenes/ A constant vogue of triumphs dislocate man, so it seems/ And space between the focus shape ascend knowledge of love/ As song and chance develop time, lost social temperance rules above/ Then according to the man who showed his outstretched arm to space/ He turned around and pointed, revealing all the human race/ I shook my head and smiled a whisper, knowing all about the place/ On the hill we viewed the silence of the valley/Called to witness cycles only of the past/ And we reach all this with movements in between the said remark … Seasons will pass you by.” Final two stanzas of “Close to the Edge” by Yes.A fellow Weekly Alibi employee was jamming out to Yes at the office just the other day, reminding this reporter of how well Jon Anderson, Chris Squire and company captured the essence of seasonal change—the roar of the future and the hum of the past—as all of those occurrences get mixed up with human expression, particularly music.The song itself is from another era, when rocanrol could be legitimately revelatory and the sentiments expressed shockingly new—or at least sufficiently removed enough from pre-war culture as to seem almost magical to their first rocking adherents.It’s still audaciously germane though, especially that killer first line. Anyway that’s the main thought that went into the composition of this week’s rendition of “Show Up!” We expect that you will put that in your pipe and smoke it, as the saying goes. But before you do, make sure you’re in touch with an excitably sativa-influenced strain—it would be unfair to the whole dang process if you nodded off at one of these musical affairs meant to get one to think about the universe and its edges.
Thursday Part I
Kurt Elling is a jazz vocalist. According to the latest from jazzland, his crooning has got swing. Combine that great grooviness with a four-octave range and a baritone intonation and tone that has poetic gravitas attached to awesome vocal power and the result is captivating. Musically, Elling is considered one of the great human vocalists of the 21st century. He’s been the Number One pick of critics at Downbeat Magazine for 14 years in a row and can handle standards, classics and even the occasional poetic recitation of works by Rumi. Elling soars and flies through the worlds created by instrumentalists; his latest recording The Questions features both intense reserve and melodic depth. Elling performs with a quintet (Diego Rivera, saxophone; Tito Carrillo, trumpet; Stu Mindeman, piano; Clark Sommers, bass; and Ulysses Owens, drums) on Thursday, Oct. 17 at KiMo Theatre (423 Central Ave. NW), in a performance titled “A Century of Heroes—Kurt Elling Sings Louis Armstrong, Nat ‘King’ Cole and Jon Hendricks.” 7:30pm • $25-$45 • All-ages.
Thursday Part Ii
Troyboi, an EDM producer/artist with hip-hop flair and British roots, gigs at Sunshine Theater (120 Central Ave. SW) on Thursday, Oct. 17 as part of his Nostalgia Tour. Here’s a brief summary/critique of the artist’s oeuvre if you are interested in this show: Highly manipulated exotic beats, combined with insistent autotuned vocals, snatches of melody that might be considered vintage because of the instruments used, a deep, post-house beat interrupted by Casio keyboard noise and thumping bass guitar. It’s not heavy but it’s still hot and new hits like “Papi Chulo” have a hard to resist Latinx disco feel that urges on dancing and deconstruction. Go, but don’t blame me if you can’t stop moving afterwards. 7pm • $25 • All-ages.
Friday
Invigorating the holy bejesus out of the whole living, working, rocking scene here in Albuquerque at the tip of winter—while autumn is king and crispy nights can as easily mean “Let’s Netflix and chill” as much as they can “Let’s get Downtown and rock”—may seem like a difficult task. But please consider the following aspects of said call to arms as you ponder your fate of late: It’s nearly Halloween, a national holiday favored by young people and rockers of all stripes. Also, in advance of that espooky exclaimation point on the month, Launchpad (618 Central Ave. SW) once again offers its super spectacular Night of the Living Cover Bands. Now coming in several iterations at the end of said tenth espooky month, these demonstrations of Burque’s powerfully poetic, plangent and sometimes pissed-off scene have become a tradition in this place. Imagine your favorite local bands blowing up reality in the form of your favorite rock and roll heroes. Boom. This place has everything, as Jim said. Friday, Oct. 18 acts include Burque Sol as Amy Winehouse, Dust City Opera as David Bowie, Suffer Your Interpretation (supposedly featuring that one dude Stue Trory) as Fugazi, JJ Lawlins as the Velvet Underground, The Cumberlands as Oasis, Rule 506 as Nirvana, OakVale as Judas Priest, Abort Abort as Bikini Kill, Walls Within as Concrete Blonde, Anesthesia as No Doubt, Strike Like Matches as Avril Lavigne and August James and the Lovesick Symphony as Paul Simon. Damn, I better get my fat Donald Fagen outfit drycleaned. 6pm • $5 • 21+.
Saturday Part I
Not to be outdone, that goldarned Launchpad (618 Central Ave. SW) is at it again, this time—Saturday, Oct. 19—with another pleasing and culturally relevant (see above entry) yearly harvest time musical festival provocatively titled “Night of the Living Cover Bands.” Tonight’s rendition features some of the most totally excellent acts in Dirt City, like The Timewreckers as Black Sabbath, Silver String Band as Modest Mouse, Ashes of Jupiter as Tenacious D, Ceremonies as Lana Del Rey, M.E. & Fury of Bandwidth No Name as Salt-N-Pepa, Red Mesa as Joe Walsh, 4Sale as James Brown, Baked as Mötley Crüe, Eugene as Dr. John and the Nite Trippers, Jamie M. Harrison as Rolling Stones and Duke City Riots w/ Billy Crooze as Bob Seger. Orale, carnales, maybe it’s time for that old and washed-up Kanye costume to come out of retirement, after all. 6pm • $5 • 21+.
Saturday Part Ii
Or you can go next door on Saturday, Oct. 19 for a dose of rock minus the dark ritual of autumn costumery and Satanic supplication. Or something like that. It might even be a matter of indulging in good, clean fun at Inside Out (622 Central Ave. SW) for a concerto grande featuring some totally fine indie-psych pop rockers from here in Burque and beyond. Check this out, home slice: Jittery yet beatifically blissed out Philly indie quintet and pop geniuses du jour The Spirit of the Beehive share a bill with local heroes Carrier Waves and second-generation Petersen-powered rockers Crime Lab. Things to note about the previous statement: The Spirit of the Beehive makes music that will entrance and make one dance. An example of that sleepy psych sweetness may be found on the album Hypnic Jerks. Carrier Waves meanwhile features Marty Crandall from Flake (at least that’s what Henny told me) as well as Josh Williams on bass and Sam Nesbitt on drums. We got their names wrong last time we wrote about them. Then there’s Crime Lab, the band fronted by Oskar Petersen, son of Carl Petersen. Carl is a magician. He passed this gift on to his son, who made a lab of it. The result, both scientific and occult, totally rocks. Hear me now and believe me later, man. 8pm • $8 • 21+.
Sunday
We’ve asked repeatedly that you attend to your electronic dreams, that you indulge your rock and roll fantasies and take heed of the jazz trances others may inevitably experience. We’ve even asked you to rock the funk out, and to let your flow be as def, divine and determinative as that of the King, Ad-Rock. Now we call on you, music lovers, to attend a production by Opera Southwest at the National Hispanic Cultural Center Journal Theatre (1704 Fourth Street SW) on Sunday, Oct. 20.Opera Southwest begins its 47th season of opera with a performance of a formerly lost work by Giovanni Bottesini titled Alí Babá. Revisioned by Opera Southwest Artistic Director Anthony Barrese—who says he was drawn to the opera “for its depiction of the people of Iran and Turkey not as comic foils to Europeans, but as full-blown characters, living in their own world”—the story is drawn from 1001 Arabian Nights. Barrese has endeavored to maintain that authenticity in his work on the score and libretto, which he reconstructed from the composer’s original manuscript, and in the selection of the cast and creative team producing the opera. Ashraf Sewailam stars in the title role and Anthony Barrese conducts the Opera Southwest orchestra. 2pm • $19-$99 • All-ages.Note: Beginning this season Opera Southwest will be offering low income New Mexicans $5 tickets through a new initiative sponsored by Bank of America. Opera for All will make $5 tickets available to New Mexico residents receiving SNAP or WIC with their New Mexico Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) cards. This program will radically expand access to opera for low income New Mexicans and children. More information about the program and how to obtain tickets is available at operasouthwest.org/operas/opera-for-all.
