“You didn’t know that rock and roll burned/ So you bought a candle and you lived and you learned/ You got the rhythm you got the speed/ Mama’s little baby likes it short and sweet” – “Once Bitten, Twice Shy” written by rock legend Ian Hunter (Mott the Hoople) but famously covered by Great White in 1989.Hunter often collaborated with Mick Ronson (Bowie’s illustrious sideman). So, the dude’s clearly an expert on the rock genre. The song’s all about the excesses of rock and roll culture, which is quite a thing, as far as this column is concerned. Anywho, don’t get carried away this weekend by similar demonstrations of supererogation, but don’t be shy either. Consider showing up for the following excursions into decadence, delight and community dedication even if it means restraining your tendency toward the Dionysian.
Show Up!: Thursday
Red Wagon Urban Farm and Community Garden, located on a plot of land in the Wells Park neighborhood—near the Harwood School—is a fab organization fronted by local music stalwart Kimo Licious and Atrisco Truck Farm founder Mark Le Claire. On Thursday night, Dec. 10, Low Spirits (2823 Second Street NW) hosts a benefit concert for these folks. They’re building a resource that aims to encourage and manifest agricultural sustainability at a local, grassroots level. Kimo said, “It’s been neat to watch the neighbors in Wells Park get behind the effort.” Now Alibi concertgoers can get in on the action too, at a concert featuring a veritable who’s who of local musicians who are not only dedicated to their craft but also to the idea that the community is a growing thing. Seth Woods, the Whiskey Priest, will be on hand to provide a sense of intricate longing. He’ll be joined on stage by the likes of Gato Malo (Felix Peralta, frontman for Felix y los Gatos), electro-pop folkster Rebekkah Dreskin, Clarke Libbey fronting The Shacks, Peri Pakroo’s project—Peri and the FAQs—bassist extraordinaire James Whiton and HYDRANT, whom Kimo calls “Albuquerque’s best kept secret.” But that’s not all; there’ll be a host of other notable musicians on tap that night and the Ramla Taal Tribal Belly Dance Troupe will also make an appearance. The 21+ show starts at 6:30pm and for five bucks, Alibi readers can throw in with the rest of the folks riding the Red Wagon towards a natural outcome.
Show Up!: Friday
Somewhere and sometime on the popular music tree, the metal branch began bifurcating wildly. I’d place the change around about the time punk broke, in like 1979 or 1980. Anyway, in our time, that part of the tree is dense with foliage and fruition that is somehow still satanically sucking from the same roots employed by everyone from Black Sabbath to Die Kreuzen. In this abundance of growth, certain bands who possess acute instrumental skills, fancy ill time signatures and appropriate freely and experimentally from other genres—oh and have a seriously dark outlook on human existence—rose to prominence. Among those bands: outfits like Yakuza and Neurosis. On Friday night, Dec. 11, representatives of these forces, Scott Kelly (Neurosis) and Bruce Lamont (Yakuza), perform at the National Hispanic Cultural Center Bank of America Theater (1701 Fourth Street SW) in an event to benefit the Endorphin Power Company, a community health, recovery and social action organization.Kelly and Lamont also collaborate on an experimental doom/drone project called Corrections House, but as a multi-instrumental and largely acoustic duo, Kelly and Lamont reach to the very deep end of the dark water places metal came from. There’s a Youtube video of the two covering Neil Young’s “Cortez the Killer” that local music writer Derek Caterwaul has posted on his website; it demonstrates the duo’s journey better than I could ever summarize it here. This show is like an essential glimpse into metal’s vasty depth of field! Admission is $12; the heavy, heavy curtain rises at 8pm.
Show Up!: Saturday
If you’re like me, you’re probably curious about the music scene in Santa Fe. When I first learned they had rocanrol up there, I was like totally freaked out. Not only do they have rock, folks, but a plethora of other vibrant genres (some of them all mixed up, just like here) are represented in the city different. You can get a load of that representation on Saturday, Dec. 12, when AMP Concerts hosts Joe West and the Santa Fe Revue at the Outpost Performance Space (210 Yale SE). New Mexican Joe West took his theatrical inclinations to Nueva York then settled into Austin, Texas as front man for one of the region’s belovedly bizarre alt-country outfits, Joe West & the Sinners. Post-millenium, West returned to his home and his roots in Santa Fe and began gigging with a rotating cohort of Santa Fe’s best players, including drummer Arne Bey (The Hoo Doos, Broomdust Caravan). Together, West’s latest constructed ensemble rattles and wanders with psychedelic intensity, coming to light on solid country/Western aesthetics and instrumental flourishes that are suprisingly effective, if sometimes joyfully bizarre. That’s what I thought after listening to them, anyhow. Tickets are $22 advance, $25 day of show (including a $2 service charge). The all ages evocation of El Norte begins at 8pm.
Show Up!: Sunday
Obie Trice, a Motor City rapper who’s had a bullet lodged in his skull for over 10 years, and a full-fathom flow lodged in his heart forever, will make an appearance in Albuquerque on Sunday, Dec. 13, at the Duke City Event Center (9800 Montgomery NE). Detroit’s had a super-rich rocanrol history and the city’s involvement in the evolution of hip-hop has also been noteworthy. Trice famously collaborated with D12 and Eminem, has influenced successors like J Dilla and Black Milk and is still working for social justice causes in his hometown, empowering youth with access to musical equipment and other resources designed to promote achievement in the musical arts. Trice is touring his latest album, The Hangover, which features G-Unit’s Young Buck as well as grammy award-winning vocalist Estelle. The new sound is poptastic yet infused with the deep urban vibes and dense use of language that living and working in Detroit no doubt imparts to its inhabitants. General admission costs $17.50 there’s also a VIP option that will run ya $28.50. All ages are allowed and bar service is available for those who can prove their age.
