“Cancel my subscription to the Resurrection/ Send my credentials to the House of Detention/ I got some friends inside/ The face in the mirror won’t stop/ The girl in the window won’t drop/ A feast of friends/ ‘Alive!’ she cried/ Waitin’ for me/ Outside!”—A very Brechtian conceit written by Jim Morrison and put to music by Ray Manzarek.Sometimes I operate by pure intuition, mijos y mijas. Such an inclination can be a curse as well as a blessing.As an example of this vibrational directionality, I’ll briefly tell you about my Friday morning. I had a heap of reporting, interviewing and similar mierda to fashion into meaningful objects when I decided to drive over to Warehouse 508, a local youth education and athletic center, to see what’s up.The door was wide open. I located a small office with a “Skate or Die” sticker on the wall. I introduced myself to a dude named Terry. He told me he was the new director. I asked what up and he said he’d take me on a tour. There were all sorts of snowboards and skate ramps and rails in the warehouse.I was like, wow, I didn’t know they did extreme sports, too! Terry went on and on about how the place was going to emphasize extreme sports and led me to the music and arts classrooms. We chatted for awhile about his background running youth programs in Cali. He told me that he had worked for Ahnold.But he was from Burque, he added. Back in the day was a skater on the scene here. I told him I was a first generation arroyo hound called the Caveman back in the ’80s and he looked at me like I was a pitiful old man. Serio.We ran into the venue manager Roberto Reyes, and Terry said I would have a better time talking to him. Then Terry wandered off.I had a great interview with Roberto, a very informed, articulate and creative local soul. We talked all about music, from hip-hop to rock, and how Warehouse 508 filled an educational gap.Notably, when I left, Terry’s office was shuttered and locked.When I got back to the office, I immediately transcribed and filed the interview. On Saturday night, I found out through a colleague that minutes after my meetings, Terry fired most of the staff at the behest of the board of directors.Boom. This is breaking news and very sad for the music community here. Alisa Valdes will be following the latest developments in the Arts section. In the meantime, go see some shows and show your unflagging support for the local scene under duress whilst recalling one of my favorite OG skate axioms: “As you are, I was; As I am, you will be.”
Show Up!: Thursday
Thollem
courtesy of the artist
The jazzed out avant-garde spirits guarding the output of gorgeous experimentalism in this town have clearly come to roost at Sister (407 Central Ave. NW). Their smoky emphemera has been luring awesomely different, dangerously challenging acts to the Downtown venue for a few years now, but damn, on Thursday, Jan. 24 they’re invoking Thollem!That’s right, an artist long considered to occupy—along with his truly grand piano, electronic effects modules and a microphone—a far-flung region of rocanrol space where the term composer has steadfastly replaced the word player—Thollem’s work is challenging, noise-drenched yet somehow melodiously melancholic. This is a dude who has jammed with folks from Minutemen, Cibo Matto and Can, for Chrissakes. St. Petersburg and AJ Woods open. Afterwards don’t be surpised if you find yourself searching for works by John Cage at your favorite online boutique. 8pm • $5 • 21+.
Show Up!: Friday
Mariachi Flor de Toloache is the greatest contemporary mariachi band in the world. There I said it and so any other major media outlet that decides to cover this dynamic group of mujeres from all over Latin America and beyond—as they continue to demonstrate the grace and guts needed to put back a wholesome vitality into a genre long considered moribund by music critics disappointed with the hyper-masculine infusions given it by contemporary Mexican popular culture—will for sure have to refer to me, to this writ. But I’m right and if you don’t get la neta, then por favor, lo escuches. Start with their Grammy award-winning album Las Caras Lindas and follow up by showing up to the South Broadway Cultural Center (1025 Broadway Blvd. SW) for their concert on Friday, Jan. 25 and smile forever afterwards, basking in memories of a sound that is como el cielo en su esplendor. 7:30pm • $15 to $20 • All-ages.
Show Up!: Saturday
I’ll be honest. I was pretty danged teenaged when In the Flat Field dropped near the end of 1980—before John Lennon died in early December. If I recall correctly, the proto-punks of my particular generation were aghast by the cover. We had had enough of a hard time in middle school selling our parents on Queen. It wasn’t so much the homoerotic bits in either case, but rather what we—as puny marxist/feminist queer wannabes—considered garish and vulgar.Some of the music therein rocked hard though, so one would occasionally hear it at parties. Of course when goth broke a few years later we were in college and had all been introduced to boyfriends and girlfriends—from Santa Fe or Los Lunas, usually—who dug bands with goth tendencies and pop polish, like The Cure or The Smiths. Peter Murphy’s solo outings were as interesting as anything searching and deep from the mid-’80s (like Echo and the Bunnymen), so many of us Gen X heshers, punks and glam rockers listened to such tunage tunes in hopes of getting laid by other, sometimes darker, outsiders.Now it’s like at least 30 years later and two essential parts of Bauhaus, Peter Murphy and David J, are on tour and will appear at the Sunshine Theater (120 Central Ave. SW) on Saturday, Jan. 26 damaging brains and eardrums with a reminder of how grand the thing called goth really is. It’s an important gig, but neither of the fellows are lithely wan youngsters blowing pan’s horn anymore—though it’s true, there’s probably more funereal wonder this time around than in 1980. Go for “Stigmata Martyr” but stay for all the glum goodness. 8pm • $25 to $225 • All-ages.
Show Up!: Tuesday
Robb Bank$
courtesy of the artist
Okay. Please stop what you are doing and spend about three minutes watching the new video for Robb Bank$ delirious new rap, “Green.” What the fuck, right? I’m telling you that such perceptual assaults can take their toll on the human brain, but there is an upside to indulging this cray collection of images and tuneage. Bank$ has it right: Just enough autotune to prevent expectations of purity, a slow and screwed attitude that says be careful how you party or you may see what I am presenting to you as a for realz component of reality. Throw in a trap sensibility and a voice that spits at a million miles an hour—about color about life and what it means to finally be green—while Bank$ drops a deep bass that vibrates like bad science fiction all over the listener’s body and maybe you’ll get it too.If that sounds like the basis of a fun experience, then I highly urge you to check out the artist when he apprears at Launchpad (618 Central Ave. SW) on Tuesday, Jan 29 with Wifisfuneral, a self-described emo-rapper. Watch it now, watch it! 8pm • $20 to $50 • 13+.
Show Up!: Best Of Burque Music 2019
Yes, music fans, the Third Annual Best of Burque Music Showcase is upon us again. Nominations open Jan. 23 at noon and mark the beginning of a process that culminates in a fabulous performance event on March 30. Let there be rock! Let there be country-Western! Let there be EDM! Let there be folk/Americana! Let there be nominations in all categories!
