The 15- (or so) member act has been in existence for less than a year but already is tagging along with (and occasionally upstaging) Calexico, opening for them in April at Phoenix’s Heritage Square and performing alongside the duo at last weekend’s Street Scene festival in San Diego and Outside Lands in San Francisco.

Sergio Mendoza’s stylish act has a simultaneously post-modern (including sound manipulation and samples) and classic take (trumpets that recall ’40s American jazz) on the mambo, without becoming a self-conscious retro act, just playing music reflecting what Mendoza heard his father listen to. The Orkesta has an European tour and a Joey Burns-produced full-length in their near future, and it’s not difficult, while listening to the band, to imagine the act drawing raves from both the NPR set that went nuts for the Buena Vista Social Club and hipster types alike. I realize that sounds like standard rock-critic hyperbole, but you haven’t seen these guys. They’re really that good.

Camilo Lara never set out with the intention of taking his personal musical career very seriously. At first, he was simply creating holiday mixes for friends. But then his friends convinced him that he should take his songs off his computer and into the studio. Now five years later, Lara is building upon the momentum of Mexican Institute of Sound’s third release, ‘Soy Sauce.’ ‘Soy Sauce’ traverses Lara’s wild musical imagination with a witty sense of humor… whether it’s converting the traditional sounds of cumbia to a full-on electronic dance track, paying tribute to hip hop luminaries De La Soul or N.W.A with Mexican sonidos or singing a love song as if Serge Gainsbourg had spent time in the Mayan jungle.

M.I.S. has brought the band to rock stages from Central Park Summer Stage to Japan and onto performances with leading radio programs like KCRW’s “Morning Becomes Eclectic.” Last spring, M.I.S. played the prestigious Coachella Arts & Music Festival in Indio, California. The Los Angeles Times praised the band’s set as one of the Coachella highlights, saying, “M.I.S. obliterated the rhythmic sameness that sinks a lot of U.S. hiphop acts. Their songs fuse thunderous beats enlivened by real-time Latin percussive accents, lyrics en español, polka, norteño, mariachi, punk, disco and rock flavors.” In the past, Lara had attended Coachella as a fan but performing for the first time had special meaning. “For me, it is part of the Mount Olympus of rock,” he says. “This includes feats like getting covered in Rolling Stone, Spin, and NME and playing Reading and Glastonbury. Yet another dream to cross off!”

Need all the details?
Check back here on 9/3/10

Get excited, Tucson.

Click here for Schedule and Info

At first listen of the Meat Puppets, one is tempted with an impression of experimental Pink Floyd “Wall-” like channeling here, but accuracy’s sake will note that the operatic idiom behind these songs has been exhibited at least as far back as 1995’s “No Joke”, and subsequent trials from Curt’s solo master piece, “Snow”, and the texturally generous “Rise To Your Knees”.

Now, however, the breadth of instrumentation is no longer in the back seat. It’s right there in the guts of the entire record. And while it is not overstatement to declare a connection here to the heights of the E Street Band, the results from last summer’s sessions clearly continue the Puppets’ trademark forging of subtle yet iconoclastic lyrical sweetness and remarkable musicianship. Were a short description required, confidence is the defining term and attitude. This is a record that is brilliantly framed by the band’s sometimes folksy, always fluid wanderings. The Puppets gladly let the material step out as first fiddle, content with understanding songs this strong only come along once in a great while, and better to serve them than the other way around.

The Meat Puppets.
A must-see show.
Friday.

Details 9/3/10

Favorite sons Calexico are teamed with national favorites Cracker, to close out the fifth Annual Hocofest Music Festival, Arizonas’ Solar Powered Music Festival.

Like Saturday’s event, the closing night kicks off at 5pm with the popular Sonoran BBQ hosted by the legendary Al Perry. His guests include Silo’s frontman Walter Salas-Humara and phoenix chanteuse Lonna Kelley.  Then a duo of great headlining acts, Sleepercar and Calexico follow one after another in a no-filler showcase. Inside, rising national star Matt Ellis gets things warmed up for the great Cracker. This wouldn’t be Hoco without a great after party, and this year both Neil Hamburger and Har Mar Superstar join the festival activities with a midnight party. Har Mar’s last performance at Club Congress was a chaotic, drunken, improvisational, work of bad performance art. We could not wait to ask him back. As with all the Hocofest nights, tickets are only $10 in advance ($25 for all three days), and sell-outs are extremely likely. If there any tickets remaining day of, we recommend arriving early as there is an expected likelihood of early sell-outs. Advance ticket purchases are highly recommended.

MR. MOCOS: “YOU CAN PICK YOUR FRIENDS”

Local Musician Appeals To Both Kids and Adults

Musician/singer “Mr. Mocos” will be our featured act at Hoco Family Fest and will perform songs from his new rock and roll album “You Can Pick Your Friends.” The hilarious, high-energy, original music with guitar riffs galore, is sure to have kids in stitches and dancing with their parents as the “big kids” reminisce about their own childhood. Remember getting flip-flop blowouts or building your own rocket ship out of a cardboard box?

 "Many of my friends who have families are listening to repetitive, tiresome songs just to appease their children.  I thought, why not make music for kids AND parents to enjoy together?” said producer Jim Gyuro, the mastermind behind Mr. Mocos’ catchy tunes.  Gyuro said the songs were spawned from his own great childhood memories and hopes they will spark a memory or two for other parents as well.

Gyuro has been writing music and performing in bands for over 15 years.  The self-produced album was recorded in Gyuro’s Tucson, Arizona, home studio and mixed at Jim Brady Studios, with assistance from jazz-great Jeff Haskell.  For the past year, Mr. Mocos has been entertaining young audiences and their parents during festive children’s rock concerts in Southern Arizona.  Today, fans can find out why “G-I Joe Married Barbie” or listen to a Johnny Cash-style “Ballard of The Bubblegum Kid”, by downloading songs on the Internet.

You can order a copy of the CD, visit iTunes, CDBaby.com, Digstation.com and Amazon.com or these local stores in Tucson, Arizona: Charlie’s Comic Books, Kid’s Center, Bohemia and Mildred and Dildred.

Odaiko Sonora, Tucson’s premiere taiko, or Japanese ensemble drumming group will be performing at Hoco Eco-Fair Sunday, September 6th!

Serving southern AZ since May 2002, Odaiko Sonora is dedicated to increasing familiarity with and understanding of taiko in our community. Odaiko Sonora is also dedicated to offering our region the finest taiko performance possible. They do this for over 13,000 people each year through classes and master workshops, performances, school residencies, teambuilding workshops and by producing concerts by internationally acclaimed taiko artists.

SOUND, MIND, BODY & SPIRIT are the principles behind Odaiko Sonora’s teaching and playing. Our students and members strive always to honor the traditions of taiko as they have come to us through our teachers, to honor our audiences through the artistic quality of our presentations.

   HOCOFEST MUSIC SCHEDULE

Friday Night 7pm Doors

OUTSIDE

7PM   Mariachi Tesoro

8PM   Orquesta La Unica

9PM   Mexican Institute Of Sound

10PM Sergio Mendoza Y La Orkesta

2^nd Stage

7:45 Los Gallegos

8:45 Grupo Sonido

9:45 Los Gallegos

INSIDE

7PM    Painted Willie

8PM    Cosmic Jackhammer

9PM    Feast.Upon. Cactus.Thorns

10PM  Blood Spasm

11PM  J.F.A

12PM  Surprise

Saturday Night 5pm Doors

OUTSIDE

5pm  Nick Luca

6pm  Tim Lee3

7pm  John Doe and Exene Cervanka

8pm  Golden Boots

9pm  Kirkwood Dellinger

10pm Meat Puppets

INSIDE

8PM  Alana Sweetwater

9PM  Buffalo Exchange Recycled Fashion Show

10PM Bang Bang

Sunday Night 5pm Doors

OUTSIDE
5:30PM   Al Perry

6:30PM  Walter Salas-Humara

7:30PM   Lonna Kelley

8:30PM  Sleepercar

9:30PM  Calexico

INSIDE

7:30 Matt Ellis

8:30 Cracker

10:30 DJ

11:00 Neil Hamburger

12:00  Har Mar Superstar