Ted's Polish-Mexican Page

I took a bunch of pictures. Some of them were actually good. I'll post them when I find the cord.

In the mean time, my series of previews continues. Here are some of the bands I haven't gotten to yet:

The Pills: The Pills started as one of the early Tucson punk bands. Their sound evolved and incorporated more elements of 70's glam rock. They moved to Phoenix and started playing under the name Gentlemen After Dark. Alice Cooper took a fancy to the band, and produced an EP for them.

Lead singer Brian Smith now leads a popular Phoenix area band called Beat Angels. The Pills also included later Sidewinders and Greyhound Soul member Robin Johnson, as well as Giant Sand member (and one-time member of Bob Dylan's band) Winston Watson.

Pollo Elastico: Pollo Elastico was one of the best loved local bands in the late 1980's. They had a sound that would remind one of The Red Hot Chili Peppers and Urban Dance Squad. Pollo toured the west coast and was on the verge of something really big, but broke up in 1990.

It was sad. At that moment, Chili Peppers, Primus and Faith No More were huge. For a year after the break up, there were reports of sightings of reps from various major labels looking to talk to these guys.

Doug Woods, who now is an accountant in Los Angeles, will be reprising his role as "the guy that brings the band on stage."

Solace Bros.: When these guys first started playing, I wasn't willing to give them a break. For one thing, their name connoted alt-country pretentions to me. For another, the people I knew that were raving about them were people that seem to like boring music, or related to a member of the band.

I was totally, unalterably, ontologically wrong.

These guys rock!

They are starting to make some national waves, recently touring with Built to Spill and impressing critics.

Spoke: "Golly, Ted, Calexico isn't on the list. How can they have an all-inclusive Tucson music fest without the biggest current act from Tucson," I hear you whine.

It's simple: they are not playing as Calexico. They are playing under their original name, Spoke.

I thought there would be some complicated legal reason for this, but really its because the band will only be John Convertino and Joey Burns, with maybe another player here and there. They didn't want people to expect to see the current five-man line up of Calexico plus Mariachi Luz de Luna, Salvador Duran, Nick Luca plus whoever else they can put on stage.

Long time fans like me remember when Calexico was just Johnny and Joey. They would often have other musicians here and there, but the understanding was that it was really the two of them driving the music. This has become less true over the years, with people like Jacob Valenzuela becoming more and more central to the band's sound.

The instability of Calexico contributed to some uneven shows. The first time I saw them, they rocked. The next time...I'd best not say. I haven't seen them suck in about six years though.

Johnny and Joey started off as sidemen in Howe Gelb's Giant Sand and Bill Elm's Friends of Dean Martinez. Spoke was just supposed to be a little side project. After the two of them left the Friends, they got more involved in Spoke, then Calexico. Two years ago, Howe and the Calexicans realized that they had grown apart musically, and they left Giant Sand. They remain friends, John Convertino sat in with Giant Sand last night.

Some local rag declared John Convertino the sexiest male musician in Tucson. Naw, look at him, he ain't much.

35 Summers: Chris Holliman's band will be playing sort of early tonight. Chris always likes to say he's a family man now.

Holliman started off as a punk back in the mid 80's with his band Les Seldoms. He then formed the River Roses; there will be more on them later.

The Roses had a pretty bad break up. They didn't so much break up as disintergrate. Chris picked up the pieces and started a new band with much the same sound and feel as the Roses. The early line-up included former Los Changuitos Feos violinist Bridget Keating. Keating was replaced with local alt-country Goddess Tammy Allen (such an alt-country Goddess that there was no word "alt-country" yet). Allen quickly put her own stamp on the band.

I had a story about the first time I saw Tammy Allen play in another entry. She has always really appreciated her fans. I remember her walking into Tork's Cafe when I worked there and recognizing me from the shows. She put me on the guest list for the show the next night. Last night I talked to her for a bit and she is doing great. She sincerely thanked me for being a fan and introduced me to her husband as being a longtime supporter. It was nice, really. It sums up the feeling I got from all of the bands last night.

The Summers had a song called "Jennifer" on their album Biblioteca. I gave a copy of it to my friend in Albuquerque, Jennifer Garcia Kozlowski. Was this a cry for help? She loved the song though.


Do zobaczenia. Hasta la proxima.