KXCI Benefit Concert
Featuring Giant Sand, Calexico, and Al Perry & The Cattle
Sunday, April 29th -- Solar Culture

By Fred Mills

Full disclosure: Yours truly has written about the musical artists at hand so many times in the past that I risk redundancy every time I pen something quasi-"fresh." So rather than lapse into omniscient crit-speak - I'm sure that Giant Sand's Howe Gelb could do without  my citing his "eclectic artistic vision," and the guys in Calexico most likely cringe every time I utter another hyphenated phrase like "barrio-cum-spaghetti-surf-noir," to say nothing of Al Perry's vow long ago to stop giving me copies of his records if I used the term "countrypolitan cowpunk" again - let me simply turn informational, along with a spoonful of personal spin.

First off: IT'S A BENEFIT CONCERT, dagnabbit. Buy a ticket, support KXCI. The venue, Solar Culture, may be located over in that section of town with all the warehouses and stuff (31 East Toole), but it's a wonderful venue with great sound with an even greater vibe. Hell, if you don't go but stay at home and listen to the broadcast of the concert, send the radio station a check for enlivening your evening. G'wan, it doesn't hurt.

Musically speaking, regular listeners of KXCI will be well familiar with the players at the benefit. The return of Al Perry is a big deal to longtime Tucsonans - he's been a staple of KXCI playlists since its inception -- and even recent transplants such as myself. A while back, Al surrendered his long-standing position as the hippest hotel desk clerk (at Hotel Congress) in Tucson to move to San Francisco, leaving behind a huge group of sincere well-wishers who found themselves minus one more cool show to attend each month (Al was a fixture at Club Congress, either performing solo or with The Cattle).

I recall that the first time I vacationed in the Old Pueblo, a year or so prior to moving here permanently in '92, he was the first person I met. I'd already been in correspondence with him and a fan of his music, so it was quite a personal thrill when, after checking in to the Congress, Al graciously offered to help me tote my luggage up the stairs. "But Al," I sez, "You're a big local rock star! Rock stars don't even carry their own suitcases!" Al just smiled his cryptic grin, and it wasn't until several years later I learned that in Tucson, no one's a rock star. But I digress; from surf-drenched, twangy countrypolitan cowpunk (uh-oh) to sweetly-textured folk to overt Brian Wilson worship to some of the most evocative, most cryingest-in-your-beer straight-up country this side of George Jones, Al Perry is a Tucson original, and it doesn't matter how far he strays, he'll always be a local legend.  KXCI is flying in Al for this one show only, so don’t miss your chance to catch him perform.

Calexico needs next to no introduction, having been one of the hardest working local outfits in the past couple of years that Tucson's ever seen. Still riding high on the international success of Quarterstick Records' "The Hot Rail" CD, Joey Burns and John Convertino have just issued an 8-song mini-album, "Even My Sure Things Fall Through." The mini-album collects a slew of B-sides and remixes previously available only by forking over cash for several expensive import releases. (It also has three extremely cool videos in the enhanced portion of the disc: "Crystal Frontier," "Ballad of Cable Hogue" and "The Black Light.") Recently, too, Calexico has been busy in other areas, including touring Europe, recording at Wavelab Studios with rootsrock mistress Neko Case (Joey also toured with Case when she was the opener for Nick Cave in March), recording and doing remix work on records by Chicago fretbenders Brokeback, dancepop diva Goldfrapp and electronic weirdos Two Lone Swordsmen, and incarnating themselves as one-half of another group, ABBC, a compelling, experimental ensemble whose other half features the good gentlemen from Amor-Belhom Duo.

When I saw Calexico perform at KXCI's "Inner Flame" benefit for the Rainer Ptacek family last fall - significantly, a now-legendary bash that was also broadcast live over the air by you-know-who -- I witnessed kinetic sonic poetry in motion.  From the inclusion of Kris McKay in the shifting ensemble to the bring-the-house-down appearance of the entire Mariachi Luz de Luna group (they also guest on Calexico records) to the wholly unexpected, and extremely rare, Howe Gelb-Calexico jam-collaboration, which by all accounts is neither "Calexico with Howe doing songs by John & Joey" nor "Giant Sand by any other name" - but something different. Clearly, Calexico thrives on interaction, spontaneity and the good vibes of sharing the musical wealth. Call it "barrio-cum-spaghetti-surf-noir" (whoops!) if you must, but when pressed on the matter, I just call it rock 'n' roll that encompasses one of the broadest musical palettes, from Nick Drake to Ennio Morricone to Gram Parsons to Sonic Youth,  I've ever heard. The upcoming evening at Solar Culture should be no different.

Speaking of Giant Sand, I've never made a secret of how smitten I am by the eclectic artistic vision (ahem!) of Howe Gelb, mainstay of the group all the way back to the early '80s when the combo was just an itty bitty giant sandworm. Said vision might include Bob Dylan one minute, Captain Beefheart the next, maybe a smattering of Neil Young or Charles Mingus thrown in like the proverbial spanner into the works - all kissed by the inspiration of Tucson's late fallen soldier, Rainer, with whom Gelb frequently collaborated and grokked the fullness of life's mystery. One of my most enduring memories is of visiting the Gelb family in their barrio digs in order to conduct a personal interview. Midway through the conversation, Gelb's one-year old son makes his way into his father's music room, and rather than shoo him out or plant him with mama, Gelb instead works the kid into the interview, the two of them pounding on, respectively, piano and cardboard box percussion, as Gelb elaborated upon a musical point. Like dada like son - now THAT is entertainment.

At any rate, Gelb's been busy of late too. Just in March and early April alone he's toured in the UK and Europe, doing solo gigs on his own and as opener for John Parish's big band, not to mention opening for P.J. Harvey, an interesting experience that found him touring under the name Giant Sand but, due to a Calexico scheduling conflict with his bandmates Joey and John, with tagged members of hip indie sensation Grandaddy to back him up. What else? Well, Gelb's label Thrill Jockey recently issued his latest solo rec, "Confluence," with yet another title, "Lull Some Piano," due this summer. (Regular visitors to the Giant Sand website, www.giantsand.com, will also note there's a mail-order only solo title, "Down Home 2000," the latest release on his homegrown label Ow Om -- don't miss the Giant Sand collection of "Chore of Enchantment" outtakes, "The Rock Opera Years," either.) And an overseas label has just seen fit to release a Giant Sand anthology entitled "Selections Circa 1990 - 2000" which nicely follows up the two "best-of" volumes, "Giant Songs One" and "Giant Songs Two," that chronicles the music up to 1990. Check the Sand website for more info on that, and if you live in Tucson, by the time you read this a certain local indie CD store should be well-stocked with copies. Most likely, you can score CDs by Giant Sand and Calexico at the April 29 concert as well.

So that's the info - I'm sure I've left out a lot - with as little hype applied as possible. What next? Why, go to the KXCI benefit, of course! There will be much shuffling of musical chairs among the participants and maybe even a surprise special guest or two as well. Beside, where else can you witness an eclectic artistic vision mingling with cowpunk and some barrio-cum-spaghetti-surf-noir thrown in for good measure, all under one roof?