Tucson's Fine Stream Gamelan, an Indonesian folk orchestra that is the brainchild of local composer Matt Finstrom, recently celebrated its 20th anniversary.

Last Friday a small piece of Tucson history was made as the Fine Stream Gamelan delivered its 20th anniversary concert.

The gamelan is an Indonesian folk orchestra, consisting mainly of percussion instruments forged from metal and wood. Tucson’s Fine Stream Gamelan is the brainchild of local composer/percussionist/bamboo expert Matt Finstrom. Over the years, Finstrom has convinced dozens of people to join in pursuit of a local expression for Javanese and Balinese traditional music, as well as new works for those unique and dreamy sounding instruments.

Finstrom’s gamelan dreams have roughly coincided with my own time at the Citizen. I recall going to a party at Finstrom’s house roughly a year after I started with the paper, celebrating his forging of the group’s original great gong. After that he set about creating by hand the numerous kettle and metalophones that would make up early configurations of the gamelan. At the same time he was enlisting recruits to join the group and training them to read the numeric code that serves as a score to the interlocking musical parts.

I had numerous friends in the group over the years, and made many more. Their dedication to the music and Finstrom was serious, and the result was simply amazing, concert after concert. To Finstrom it’s all grown organically and in the right way – like a family. You could see that in the current crop of Fine Stream Gamelan players Friday night, not only in the cooperative spirit in which they bring this music to life but also in a more literal sense as the children of Finstrom and David Dettman have joined the group’s ranks. And out in the audience, almost the same number of former players as were onstage watched the current generation put its stamp on the music, joined by a contingent of about 100 gamelan fans.

The show was a major milestone, underscoring how far this group has progressed in two decades. Along with Finstrom’s handmade Balinese-style instruments there were a number of instruments purchased in Indonesia for the group. Likewise the costuming of the players was closer to traditional garb. And the playing has clearly progressed, with more challenging repertoire becoming the norm. Not that Finstrom ever cut his players any slack in that department.

Musically, the concert was a mix of traditional Indonesian fare and music written by Finstrom over the years, working from traditional styles. Among Finstrom’s contributions were the original composition commissioned from him for the group’s initial appearance 20 years ago, a piece he composed in imitation of shadow puppet music, a piece that won him the 1991 Arizona Composers Forum award, a work blending Javanese and Balinese drumming styles, and the piece FSG played at the 2008 All Souls Procession finale. The latter work was dedicated to the late Rofl Jordahl – an artist and art restoration expert who was a former member of FGS and a beloved member of Tucson’s visual arts community.

Finstrom’s “Swara Manis” (Sweet Sound) is online in its entirety, attached to this column at www.tucsoncitizen.com. There is no substitute for seeing and hearing this music made, so I highly recommend going online to see it.

Watching the show, so many memories came back to me. I recall crowding into the tiny rehearsal space in Finstrom’s house where the players sat packed as close as atoms in a hunk of lead, painstakingly hammering metal bars with one hand while damping the previous bar with the other to keep its tone from clashing with the new sound. I recall when Finstrom’s wife, Holly, was pregnant with their daughter Ariel, now a beautiful 12-year-old who plays with the group. I remember most vividly the night that the father of the gamelan in America – classical composer Lou Harrison – and his partner, Bill Colvig, came out to Finstrom’s house during one of the rehearsals and jammed with them on traditional tunes all knew. Harrison was very impressed, both with the group and the instruments Finstrom created.

I’ve known Finstrom for about 25 years. We met when he was playing a variety of world percussion instruments and jamming with one of my former teachers, Larry Solomon. Over the years I’ve watched Finstrom take on more and more complex chunks of the global sound, through FSG and Sruti – Finstrom’s ensemble for the performance of East Indian music. Always an adept and highly informed player, Finstrom has organically grown as a composer and group leader, creating beautiful works and empowering community members to learn how to play this special music. I wasn’t the least bit surprised to see him nominated for a Lifetime Achievement Lumie Award. He deserved to be so recognized for the powerful contribution he’s made to this community.

It was nice to see his troupe honor him with its first “Gammy” award after the show and acknowledge the patience and perseverance he’s shown over the years. And even better to bask again in the beautiful sounds his labors have produced.

Congratulations, Matt, and many more decades to follow.

Matt Finstrom

Conrado Duarte, 14, (from left), Rena Aguirre, 15, and Fernando Manzano, 11, performed in the Fiesta de Garibaldi at this year's Tucson International Mariachi Conference.

First, a couple of corrections. In my review of Thursday night’s mariachi conference participant showcase, I failed to even mention Tucson’s Los Changuitos Feos. This was a major omission, as theirs was one of the night’s best sets.

Youth mariachis are like school athletics: You have good teams some years and have to build on others. But this year was one of the best for the Changuitos of the 20-plus years I’ve covered the conference for the Citizen. The group’s vocals were dead-on, the instrumental ensemble was impressive and the group’s sense of showmanship and style set it apart.

Also in my review of the Espectacular, I mistakenly credited Los Camperos with the beautiful performance of “El Pastor.” It was, in fact. Arturo from Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán who lofted those falsetto leaps into the stratosphere in that memorable performance. Sometimes when you’re under deadline pressure, you think you’re on a page in your notes talking about one group when there’s actually a bit of overlap. My bad, and apologies to Vargas.

Corrections out of the way, I wanted to make some observations about the Tucson International Mariachi Conference since it’s by no means certain that we’ll be around next year to do so.

I first covered the mariachi conference for the Citizen in 1988, just after Linda Ronstadt’s “Canciones de Mi Padre” came out. That first year I reviewed the show jointly with Ruben Hernandez, who covered it by himself the following year. From 1990 on I covered the conference by myself.

No single event has been more crucial to my appreciation and understanding of the heart of this community than the mariachi conference.

I was an outsider from the culture, but from the start, people in the Mexican- American community embraced me and patiently helped me to get a grip on the complexities and nuances of the mariachi and folklórico art forms. My background was in classical music, and immediately I could see that the virtuoso mariachis who appeared at the Espectacular were among the best musicians from any genre in the world. Clearly they had taken this music’s folk roots and elevated them to a level of high art, just as symphonic, chamber and operatic composers in the classical world had. Moreover, both the instrumental and vocal artistry brought to bear on this music were among the greatest anywhere in the world.

I also quickly saw that this was some of the most complex music on the planet, with rhythms superimposed upon one another in the most propulsive way. And there was a human connection to the mainstream of the culture that had all but disappeared in the classical world. High art this may be, but this music lives in the hearts and minds of the populace, who often sing along at the shows when button-pushers like “Volver, Volver” are performed. Being in the middle of all of that was so different and so “alive.”

Over two decades there were growing pains in the conference that I reported. Personality conflicts and strong differences of opinion, particularly with regard to the educational components, rocked the event from time to time. But over the years, those clashes have produced a stronger conference that remains the model for all in the mariachi world.

Tucson, too, has grown as a result of the conference, economically because of the many visitors it’s brought in, but also socially. When I started at the Citizen in 1987, few schools had mariachi programs as part of the curriculum. Today many more do, and these programs have increased student pride in their culture, helped to lower dropout rates, improved grades and resulted in many more Mexican-American students going on to college than ever before. These programs have become recruiting tools for local public schools, and in many ways have been cultural ambassadors to the community at large.

Having the mariachi conference as a focal point for all of this school activity has had a synergistic effect. Some complain that students can learn little in three days, but I say that one cannot underestimate the value of the inspiration that comes from rubbing shoulders with the greatest figures in that music and learning directly in the classroom from your heroes. On top of that, students build lasting friendships with players, singers and dancers of their age from around the U.S. and Mexico, and come to realize they are part of something greater than themselves and their local groups.

And the proof is in the student participant showcase, as well as the student offerings of the Garibaldi. Year after year, I see the level of artistry in the students steadily rise. At younger and younger ages I see top talent, inspired by kids their age and the masters of their art forms. I see kids with confidence who are unafraid to express themselves, are proud of their heritage and connected to their families and community. And I see the rise of a sophisticated audience as well that knows and understands the music and dance, and shows its appreciation like no other.

I’ve also seen changes at the highest levels of the mariachi food chain. Tucson’s own Mariachi Cobre gave Vargas, Los Camperos and many others a kick in the pants a number of years back by ratcheting up its own level of instrumental and vocal artistry. The competition is more fierce today at the top level than it once was, and yet there also has developed a more cooperative spirit at that level. All of this is directly attributable to the Tucson conference.

Words can’t describe how grateful I am to have had the chance to see all of this unfold, to write about this moment in history as it happened and to get to know some of the most wonderful people along the way. In particular, I would like to thank longtime conference emcee Jose Ronstadt, who year after year acknowledged what the Citizen has allowed me to do. I’d also like to thank Richard Carranza, who in my earliest years helped me by explaining so much of what’s important in this music, and guided me through its incredibly rich and deep literature. I’d like to thank the Carrillo and Ruiz families for their help in unraveling mariachi’s Tucson roots. Equally, I would like to thank Julie Gallego, Jose Luis Baca and Marisa Gallegos for all the help they’ve given me in coming to understand the folklórico dance that is an equal partner to the music.

Most of all, I would like to thank the musicians and dancers, young and old, who have inspired me beyond what words can convey. You are in my heart forever.

Please go online (www.tucsoncitizen.com) and check out the videos from the participant showcase and the Garibaldi performances. And know that whether the newspaper is here or not next year, I’ll be back at the conference, savoring again the music and dance that I have come to love.

Talent overflows as kids get to show what they learned in workshops

Isabella Bryant (left), 8, and Karina Romero, 7, of Mariachi Aguilitas de Davis perform during the showcase concert on Thursday at the Tucson Convention Center.

The Mariachi Espectacular concert always gets top billing, but to this writer, the real show happened Thursday night.

Though the Tucson Convention Center Arena was only around half full, the spacious joint was brimming with talent as the students who attend the Tucson International Mariachi Conference workshops got to strut their stuff.

It was a big night for the Valenzuela family in particular. Alfredo Valenzuela, who heads the mariachi program at Davis Elementary School, was inducted into the Mariachi Hall of fame. His group, Mariachi Aguilitas de Davis, was up first and full strength, with some 70 talented youngsters chiming out “Mexico Lindo,” “Tata Dios” and “Cancion Mexicana” in style. A group of his graduates called Mariachi Nueva Melodia made an impressive debut on the show, as did son Jaime Valenzuela’s Mariachi Tesoro.

Mariachi Aztlan de Pueblo High School set the high water mark in a strong lineup. The group barreled through taxing arrangements with aplomb, wowing the crowd with a set that showed its grasp of the music’s roots, as well as its sophisticated branches. A practically classical trio tossed into the set set the audience on its ear.

Mariachi Mixteco from El Centro, Calif., won the hearts of Tucson with its soulful version of Lalo Guerrero’s “Barrio Viejo” and an equally joyous rendition of his “Cancion Mexicana.”

Mariachi Brillante Juvenil showed it’s grown into its name in every respect. Polished, suave and precise, it had chops to match its stage presence. The dedication to Jose Rincon, who was killed in a car wreck last year, tugged the hearts of all who recall his special talents.

David Gill’s Los Potrillos de Cholla High School was second only to Mariachi Aztlan in poise, showmanship and crisp virtuosity from every sector. Likewise Mariachi Apache from Nogales High School, under the direction of Gilbert Velez, brought commanding style and powerful vocal talent to its too-short set. And former Tucsonan Adam Romo’s Mariachi Los Vaqueros from Las Vegas, Nev., made a powerful impression, both instrumentally and vocally.

With each passing year, this showcase makes more and more evident the strides young people are making in this music.

My sole complaint is the absence of folklorico dancers at the show. They too are vital participants who deserve a showcase. Let’s fix this.

Not only has April been designated Jazz Appreciation Month by the Smithsonian Institution, but the Tucson Jazz Society has designated this month to begin its five-concert showcase of local jazz heroes.

Add to that, a rare appearance by alto sax legend Bud Shank with nationally ranked tenor man Doug Webb.

A seventh concert featuring Baked Apple favorites from Phoenix – Judy Roberts and Greg Fishman – will cap the series and send us into summer.

Unofficially, this swinging spring project for TJS is a return to the organization’s grass roots as a bunch of people who simply love jazz and want to share the love. It hasn’t always been easy.

The last few years saw the society stage a number of high-profile events that, basically, suffered from too much optimism and not enough financial support. As TJS sank under a tsunami of red ink, the national economy was also collapsing.

Last January, the group’s board decided to release their salaried staff and go it alone as an all-volunteer organization. Just like it was in 1977 when a couple of dozen like-minded folks met one weekend afternoon at the Jazz Showcase nightclub on Grant Road.

That building was torn down a long time ago. Some of the original members are still in town, though, and still active in TJS. They and many newer members are determined to prove jazz will maintain a presence in our city’s reputation as an arts oasis of the Southwest.

At one point in its history, the Tucson Jazz Society boasted the second-largest membership of all the nation’s community jazz organizations, approaching an estimated 3,000 card-carrying supporters. Several unfortunate changes in leadership took their toll, however, and now the unofficial count is about half that.

Led by a very determined Jeffrey Lewis as board president, TJS wants to get back to those times when the music was the most important part. There is just something mystical – religious, almost – about being in a big group of people all tapping their feet in the same rhythm to the same music at the same time.

It is also special to have a chance to hear musicians perform in an open-air setting, without the noise of clattering glasses and other people’s conversations like in a restaurant or bar.

These musicians, after all, have spent a major portion of their lives learning to navigate the spaces between all those notes in all those scales for all those keys. Plus the drummers, who have developed multitasking into a fine art. Literally. In light of all this, respectful listening doesn’t seem too much to ask.

One of the first achievements of the fledgling TJS back in 1980 was to establish an annual tribute to women in jazz. The Primavera Festival is now the nation’s longest-running celebration of groovy female musicians.

So it is entirely appropriate that this turning point concert series for TJS opens with Sunday’s show featuring a trio of songbird jazzers – Crystal Stark, Julie Anne and Kathryn Byrnes. Each of these ladies enjoys a successful solo career, but they will surely be singing some three-part harmony, as well, flipping through the classic jazz songbook.

All of the concerts will run on successive Sundays through May 17 at St. Philip’s Plaza.

———

The lowdown

• Sunday – Crystal Stark, Julie Anne and Kathryn Byrnes

• April 12 – tenor saxophonist Greg Armstrong and Friends

• April 19 – reedmen Bud Shank and Doug Webb

• April 26 – vocalist Joe Bourne and the Cool Ditties of Jazz

• May 3 – Nossa Bossa Nova, the duo of Theresa and Mike Levy

• May 10 – Orquesta La Unica play salsa, led by Amilcar Guevara

• May 17 – Judy Roberts, singer/pianist, costars with Greg Fishman, tenor sax

When: 7 to 9 p.m.

Where: St. Philip’s Plaza, 4280 N. Campbell Ave. (at East River Road)

Price: Tickets for each show are $20 general admission, $15 for TJS members, $10 for students.

Info: tucsonjazz.org

With the looming death of the Tucson Citizen, I decided to start cleaning out my desk. One good thing came out of the experience: I came across a pile of choice Latin CDs buried among the debris. They’re worth checking out.

Los Fabulosos Cadillacs

“La Luz del Ritmo” (Nacional Records)

Set for release Tuesday, this disc is the Latin rock band’s first studio album in a decade. Included are new original songs, reworked interpretations of such classics as “Mal Bicho” and “Padre Nuestro” and the group’s take on The Clash’s “Should I Stay or Should I Go.” The 13 tracks showcase the Grammy Award-winning band’s mix of ska, rock, tropical, punk, reggae and Latin rhythms. Standout tracks: the revamped “Padre Nuestro,” with its sweet reggae-tango beat, and the low-key, haunting “Condenaditos,” which shows a different side of the rollicking rockers.

Novalima

“Coba Coba” (Cumbancha)

Music collective Novalima follows up its 2006 breakout CD, “Afro,” with the equally sizzlin’ “Coba Coba,” which continues the Lima group’s exploration of Afro-Peruvian rhythms blended with modern club-dance beats. The creative fusion of these Latin, African and contemporary dance sounds explodes in a frenzy of percussion, soul and high energy that will have music purists turning (and boogeying) in their graves. Also in the mix: reggae, dub, salsa, hip-hop and Cuban son.

Lydia Mendoza

“The Best of Lydia Mendoza” (Arhoolie Records)

Before there was Selena, there was Lydia Mendoza. Recognized as the first Queen of Tejano music, she was known as “La Alondra de la Frontera (The Lark of the Border).” The Houston native began her career in 1928 and entertained audiences for more than 60 years. The passion and depth of her interpretations of songs resonated with audiences along the border, especially the working class, who considered her the voice of the people. Mendoza was the first Texan to receive the National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowship, and was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1999 by President Clinton. The CD chronicles the best material from the Mexican-American music pioneer: corridos, boleros and rancheras, including her signature hit, “Mal Hombre.”

RH+

“Quintana Roo”(Nacional Records)

A combination of indie rock and electronica, “Quintana Roo” is the U.S. debut CD from Chilean band RH+, formerly known as Rock Hudson. Fans of dreamy electronic pop groups such as Broken Social Scene, Air, and Stereolab will appreciate the music of RH+, the record label assures us. I’m sold. Interchanging male and female vocals, the songs offer a soothing, surreal feel and sound that is perfect chill-out music.

Monte Negro

“Cicatriz” (Epic)

If you’ve never heard of Monte Negro, you will soon. The bilingual, bicultural alternative rockers are winning raves from critics and music fans for their sound, which they describe as an “amalgamation of styles.” According to their publicist, the group digests healthy portions of Jane’s Addiction, The Cure, The Clash, and the Sex Pistols, Caifanes, Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, Maldita Vecindad, Mano Negra, Soda Stereo, and Spinetta.

Fidel Nadal

“Crucial Cuts” (Nacional Records)

For fans of Latin reggae who have been waiting for a greatest hits collection by Fidel Nadal, the wait is over. “Crucial Cuts” features 17 of the songs made famous by the founding member and frontman for Argentine rasta punk rockers Todos Tus Muertos. Nadal, who went solo in 2000, fuses reggae, dancehall and sound-system beats. Guest collaborators include vocalist Mykal Rose (Black Uhuru), cumbia villera musician Pablo Lescano (Damas Gratis), saxophonist Sergio Rotman (Los Fabulosos Cadillacs) and Jamaican trombone player Rico Rodriguez.

Aterciopelados

“Rio” (Nacional Records)

The Colombian group returns with “Rio,” the follow-up to the Latin Grammy-Award winning CD, “Duo” Singer Andrea Echevarri and bassist Hector Buitrago have never sounded better as their socially and politically-conscious music continues to evolve. They take on such subjects as the environment and immigration with their signature aplomb and intelligent, thought-provoking lyrics.

As a child of the ’60s, Bob Dylan has been a huge part of my life.

My first 45 records were Dylan and Motown. I bought my first book about Dylan when I was in middle school. And my first Dylan concert was one of the biggest thrills of my life.

Over the years I’ve seen him perform six or seven times, and always was wowed by what an incredible band he put together. Even in his brief Christian phase, Dylan’s bands were astonishing.

One of my keen regrets as we wind down the last days of this paper is that I never did a piece on Winston Watson, the Tucson-based drummer who played with Dylan for five years in the 1990s. I saw Watson play at Club Congress during one of the big anniversary celebrations, but I was shooting video and somehow never made contact with him.

So when I got home Monday night and discovered a copy of the DVD, “Bob Dylan Never Ending Tour Diaries: Drummer Winston Watson’s Incredible Journey,” sitting on my doorstep, I felt like I might finally get the chance to hear the stories of one who had been there with the road master.

Watson evidently kept a running diary of his road experiences as part of Dylan’s band, from the time he got a call to fly to the Midwest to join the band the next day, with no one there to pick him up or tell him where to go, through the rather unceremonious split from the tour he feels was instigated by Van Morrison.

Watson also brought his consumer video camera on the road. His footage, historic video and stuff shot by fans comprises a lot of the visuals for the film.

Naturally it’s a slightly drummer-centric view of Dylan’s touring life. And if you’re looking for an “I was Dylan’s buddy” kind of tell-all thing, this ain’t it. But it is a fascinating glimpse into the touring life of a mysterious American musical icon that shows both how revered Dylan is and how lonely his fame has made life. Not that the word “lonely” ever comes up, but when you see Dylan in the center of crowds of the likes of George Harrison, Neil Young, Tom Petty, Levon Helm and others, they all look to be having a great time while he just looks like he’s been there, done that.

What we do learn about Dylan from this is what a consummate bandleader he is, how carefully he chooses his sidemen, and how while he may say little to them, in his economy of gesture and phrase he speaks volumes to those players. Basically the players are on one bus and Dylan on another. Not that there isn’t some “hang time” with him along the way, but there’s clearly a boss/worker vibe to it.

And it is work. Few performers have a songbook as thick as Dylan’s, and fewer still juggle so vast a repertoire on a nightly basis. On top of that, as anyone who’s seen Dylan over the years can attest, Dylan’s road show arrangements almost always are a vast departure from their recorded counterparts.

One could whine about the production values of the film. It’s not a high budget production. But the first 60 minutes of this 95-minute film are so packed with wonderful stories of the band, the road and Watson’s life that you can easily forgive the hokey green screen transitions. Even so, it could still stand to shave of the bulk of the last 25 minutes of the film.

The stuff of Watson playing with Alice Cooper and Warren Zevon is great, but the hype of him now playing with the Dylan cover band Highway 61 just seems like a bad way to end the film. Even so, I’m grateful to Watson for giving an inside look at the music making of an American original, and even more so to the filmmakers who recognized the anecdotal gold mine that Watson’s memories represent.

Grade: B-

Until bebop came along in the 1940s, jazz was best known for being fun music. You got a girl, you found some jazz and you had fun. Whether the music was on a record, on the radio or in a smoky bar that served great barbecue, it didn’t matter. Whether the music was a swinging dance tune or a bittersweet ballad, it didn’t matter.

You could be doing anything and the sound of jazz just made it better.

That sprightly spirit has been missing from the music for a long time, long before gender was a hot button issue. Most people have forgotten those days. Many are too young to ever know them.

Sure, a digital culture probably needs its own music. But human beings are still human beings. Fun is still an essential ingredient to life itself.

One bunch of trad jazz guys who believe in the stimulating power of this old aural tonic are the six musicians who comprise the Original Wildcat Jass Band. That’s jass, not jazz, reminding us this proud American art form spent a lot of its formative years entertaining women of ill repute.

The CDs liner notes confirm this heritage and flaunt it loudly in the musicians’ own preference for their spelling of jass.

As for the “Wildcat” part, two of the band members are music professors at the University of Arizona – Kelland Thomas on banjo and soprano sax, Kelly Thomas playing the most lighthearted tuba you will ever hear.

Also with high profiles in Tucson’s jazz community are Jason Carder, trumpet, and Rob Boone, trombone. Ray Templin brings a Chicago influence to his work on piano and drums, completing the sextet.

The band’s new album is “Two Deuces,” a lively blend of better and lesser-known songs originally recorded by the likes of King Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton and Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five.

Added to the album’s 16-song mix is Boone’s romantic rendition of “Stardust,” a joyful “Pennies From Heaven” and Kelly Thomas’ tuba leading the rhythm on “Caravan.”

Everybody kicks out the jams on another tune with Middle Eastern flavors, “The Sheik of Araby.” There is such a straw hat flavor to this number, another lost tradition is recalled – repeating “in a bathing suit” after every phrase. Try it.

“I’m the Sheik of Araby (in a bathing suit), Your heart belongs to me (in a bathing suit). At night when you’re asleep (in a bathing suit), Into you’re tent I’ll creep (in a bathing suit) . . . for the whole song.

Then order another pitcher of beer.

An impressive proof of these musicians’ love for the very roots of jazz are two original, if uncredited, pieces deep in the fun pocket, “You Can’t Have Your Kate and Edith, Too” and an ode to all moochers, “Suits Are Picking Up the Bill.”

Pun lovers will be convinced “You Can’t Have Your Kate and Edith, Too” was written in the golden age of punditry back around the beginning of the 20th century. It’s a tale of a fellow who has one girlfriend, Kate, but also wants the singer’s girlfriend, Edith.

But wait … there’s more! Recording “Two Deuces” was so much fun, the rhythm section said, “Hey, when’s our turn in the spotlight?” So Kelly Thomas added his higher-toned euphonium, Rob Wright joined up with banjo and vocals, Ray Templin came in on piano and drums.

Right away we know this trio spells fun like FUN! An easy-swinging “Ain’t Misbehavin’” opens the 15-song list, but next up is a hilarious version of “Dueling Banjos.”

If you remember the hippo ballet in Disney’s “Fantasia,” you’ll be grinning as the ponderous tuba steps up to duel with the smarty-pants banjo. In lesser hands, this contest could get downright muddy. Instead, Thomas’ tuba is such a fleet-footed adversary, the banjo has to do a lot of tap dancing just to keep from getting squashed.

A more patriotic reminiscence on the rustic South lies in the medley “Dixie/Battle Hymn/This Land/America the Beautiful.” By the time we get to this track, the banjo and tuba have become inseparable friends. Just the idea of putting these two out front, giving them equal time to shine, feels daring enough. Then when they turn out to be so evenly matched, well, your ears will be smiling, as well.

To get a copy of either release, phone 544-0476 or check cdbaby.com

Michael G. (from left), Michael J. and Petie Ronstadt represent two generations of Tucson's most musical family.

The Old Pueblo got a major holiday treat as the latest generation of Tucson’s musical first family – the Ronstadts – teamed up in venues all over town.

Back in the late 1800s when Federico Ronstadt moved here from Mexico he created Tucson’s first symphonic institution – the Club Filarmonico. Later he would be a founding board member of the Tucson Symphony Orchestra. His daughter, Luisa Espinel, would become the city’s first operatic diva, and would gather the Mexican folk songs her father sang to her in a collection, “Canciones de Mi Padre.”

A son of Federico, Gilbert Ronstadt, would have a daughter who would be the most famous family musician yet – versatile pop singer Linda Ronstadt, who would borrow her Aunt Luisa’s title “Canciones de Mi Padre” for her own mariachi tribute to Gilbert. That collection would go on to be a global smash and revive the whole mariachi culture.

Linda’s generation of musical Ronstadts is well represented by Bill, John and Michael J. Ronstadt (the latter Linda’s brother), and it goes on with the next generation through flamenco guitarist Chris Burton Jácome and singer Mindy Ronstadt.

But now the sons of Michael J. Ronstadt – bassist/singer/songwriter Petie and cellist/composer/singer Michael G. Ronstadt – have grown into fine professional musicians as well. And throughout late December and early January, the brothers teamed up with their dad for concerts back in the home city, including gigs with their dad’s musical partner, Ted Ramirez, in the Santa Cruz River Band.

All of the recent performances were eclectic showcases of the considerable talent that has seeped into this next batch of Ronstadts. From folkie family favorites and original tunes to Mexican standards passed down from their great-grandparents, the younger Ronstadts anchored and carried the varied fare to new heights. It’s what Ronstadts do.

“It’s music I’ve heard my whole life,” Petie says. “I had to learn some rhythmic patterns that were a little different from what I’m used to but aside from that it was a pretty easy jump.”

“Every family gathering there’d be tons of guitars,” adds Michael G. Ronstadt. “Bill Ronstadt would have his bass oftentimes, my uncle Peter would have a guitar. My cousin Kiko (Jácome) always played music. If he didn’t have an instrument he sang. I guess I was the only cellist the family ever had.”

And it’s always been that way.

“There’s a picture that we have in an old family album that a photographer friend of my family took when I was in diapers and I was playing my father’s old Martin guitar,” Michael J. Ronstadt recalls. “I think it was pretty well set at that point. It’s just always been something that’s been around.”

Asked how he thought his dad and grandfather would feel seeing him playing with his kids, Michael J. says, “I think they would be very pleased and proud. Sometimes I wish my dad would have been around to see these guys. The fact that both of them are embracing that kind of music couldn’t make him anything but proud and happy.”

The only bad thing is that it was short-lived. Petie will join his dad and Ted Ramirez in the Santa Cruz River Band for the next few months, and there will be a few dates along the way where paths will converge. But for the most part, cellist Michael G. Ronstadt returns to his own road, supporting his CDs, backing singer Lisa Biales and working in a rock project.

Check out video of the trio, as well as the Santa Cruz River Band. And while you’re at it, run down Petie’s Indie Rock group Goodbye Kiss’ self-titled EP, Michael G. Ronstadt’s “Cotton Dreams Parts 1 & 2″ and the several Santa Cruz River Band CDs.

Cox Communications has agreed to provide financial and advertising assistance to the Tucson International Mariachi Conference.

In a year when many arts groups are sweating out the current financial shakeup, the Tucson International Mariachi Conference is breathing a little bit easier, thanks to a new partnership with Cox Communications.

For several years now, the conference has been letting the public know that it was on a slippery financial slope. According to Daniel Ranieri, CEO of La Frontera Inc., the social services organization that the conference benefits, “(2009) was the year we would have run out of money.”

Instead, Cox will be supplying $50,000 cash per year for the next three years, plus a huge advertising partnership totaling some $500,000 in cash and in-kind donations.

The conference will be able to purchase marketing from Cox “in a deeply discounted way,” according to Ranieri. Cox will promote the event through all of its media around the state. It will produce shows about the conference and La Frontera to air on its cable channel and Web site, as well as produce sizable promotional spots for the event and its other sponsors.

Although it easily could have, Cox did not insist on being a named sponsor for the event (as in the Bank One Tucson International Mariachi Conference of some years back). Instead it’s looking at the arrangement as a chance for the conference to provide added market value to other sponsors, and thus attract a title sponsor as well as smaller partnerships.

It’s great for the conference in other ways, too. Through Cox’s interactive media, conference management can now get additional feedback from the public about the types of acts they’d like to see on the bill for the Espectacular concerts.

“It really turned the light on for me,” Ranieri says. “Why not have more strategic relationships?”

It’s a win-win situation. The conference gets cash, a broader advertising footprint around the state and a leveraging tool to attract other sponsors. Cox gets the goodwill such an arrangement produces, a clear sense of its role as a leader in the community and access to a steadily increasing market, in terms of the largely Hispanic audience that attends the events.

“I feel like the stars have lined up for us on this,” Ranieri says.

For Lisa Lovallo, Cox’s vice president and systems manager for southern Arizona, this arrangement with the mariachi conference is part of a broader approach to community relations for the communications giant.

In the TREO strategic planning meetings over the spring and summer, Lovallo saw an opportunity for Cox to get more involved in the community “to see if we can help.”

The mariachi conference’s international reputation, its educational component that serves 1,000-1,500 students a year and La Frontera’s work around the state added up to what she terms “a perfect storm of elements” to make Cox want to pitch in.

What the conference needed, she says, was not just a check but a business plan and a true media partner to help increase ticket sales, attract sponsorships, package and sell its assets and broker new partnerships in the community. With a representative on the conference board, Cox plans to be involved all the way through – not just at events, but at the meetings afterward to assess what went well and what could go better.

It’s an infusion of the type of energy and direction that TIMC has long needed, and one with potential to help the mariachi world’s long-standing model achieve the prominence and success it deserves.

Nostalgia never sounded better than it does in the ongoing Jazz Icons series of DVDs spiffed up from concerts televised in Europe mostly in the 1960s. As true jazz fans remember, the first two boxed sets of these genuine jazz events included historic performances from such heralded artists as Chet Baker, Duke Ellington, Dexter Gordon, Count Basie, Charles Mingus, Sarah Vaughan, Stan Getz, Ella Fitzgerald, the list just gets longer and more impressive.

Now the third boxed set of aural gold is coming our way, looking crisp and sounding just as good as its two archival predecessors. This time out, the artists are: Sonny Rollins, Nina Simone, Lionel Hampton, Bill Evans, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Oscar Peterson and Cannonball Adderly.

These days, Rollins is enjoying the high profile of a working jazzer still going out on tour and doing it every night. Now in the seventh decade of an extremely creative life, his career has enjoyed an incredible resurgence.

Rollins’ concerts presented here took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1965 and 1968. Typical of the iconic tenorman’s restless lifestyle, his head is shaved and so is his face in 1965 but he is bearded and wearing a beret in 1968.

At both sessions he is playing with the strength you would expect of a saxophone colossus, several years after his self-imposed exile and those famous alfresco blowouts on the Williamsburg Bridge across New York’s East River.

Considering how noisy that time period was in American history, perhaps we didn’t appreciate Rollins enough back then. Europe’s jazz fans weren’t so caught up in the celebrity of who is better, Rollins or John Coltrane. The fans at these videotaped concerts loved Rollins and he loved them right back.

The DVD that feels most like a discovery of some wacky genius is the one featuring Rahsaan Roland Kirk, performing with several reed instruments hung around his neck, and a flute stuck in the bell of his tenor sax.

It is always easy to dismiss Kirk as a brilliant eccentric who tried to cover up his lack of musical ideas with the gimmick of playing so many different horns on the same song. Sometimes at the same time. And why did he hang everything around his neck? Why not have a specially designed instrument rack to stand beside, so he could simply pick and choose as his inspiration commanded.

Listening to his recordings, without any visual impact, the music does sound good . . . but not great. Yet, seeing him perform with at least 70 pounds of brass horns, padded keys and stiff little springs dangling from his shoulders, the man is a flashing neon aura of creativity.

These notes aren’t coming from a single musician but from a pile of music gear. The man in the center seemed more like a ship captain in a storm, grabbing whatever he needs to meet head-on the next wave of creativity about to wash over him.

Pure anger and intensity is in the performances of Nina Simone, playing in Holland in 1965 and in England in 1968. This was Simone at the height of her civil rights activist period. Her delivery on “Four Women” (with its signature scream of frustration, “They call me Peaches!”) is riveting. So are “Mississippi Goddam” and the equally direct “Go To Hell.”

To see Simone in her 30s, so fierce and proud siting behind that piano, is unforgettable for me.

Everyone will have a favorite moment of some kind. This boxed set is full of them. As the holiday season approaches, check the record departments of those chain bookstores and www.amazon.com. Each DVD is also sold separately.

Practically from the day he arrived in the desert, Tucson Symphony Orchestra music director George Hanson has never been shy about expressing a desire to record with this orchestra. Though it took 13 years for that dream to come true, the TSO’s just-released first recording, featuring the music of French Canadian composer André Mathieu (1929-1968) is a knockout on all counts.

Time was on Hanson’s side in this enterprise. Throughout his tenure since 1996 with the orchestra, the TSO has taken both quantum leaps and evolutionary strides in the quality of its sound. When he arrived, the group was promising but fairly uneven and somewhat rough-hewn, with little appreciation of the finer points of dynamic shading. Every hire was a good one, every retention earned by the players. If the TSO of his arrival was a 1960s-era Oldsmobile, the orchestra of today is a Lamborghini. TSO earned its shot at a CD project, and it is everywhere shown by both the orchestra and the TSO chorus on this collection of ballet scenes, short choral numbers and a worthy concerto.

But none of this would have happened without the right partner – French Canadian pianist Alain Lefèvre. A virtuoso with the chops to match the highest strata of players alive today, Lefèvre is an impassioned champion of the relatively-unknown, greatly underappreciated music of his countryman, Mathieu. Lefèvre’s love of Mathieu’s music is well-founded. Here is a composer with a gift for melody all his own, the jaunty skill of George Gershwin, and the long-form sense of architectural structure of Sergei Rachmaninoff.

The centerpiece of the CD is Mathieu’s three-movement Piano Concerto No. 4 – a work Lefèvre was introduced to through a couple of the composer’s own private discs, handed to the pianist by one of Mathieu’s former girlfriends. Lefèvre invited composer/conductor Gilles Bellemare to orchestrate the work, fleshing out a score of romantic opulence and impressionistic atmosphere.

The result, as evidenced on this disc, is a spectacular vehicle for soloist and orchestra. Tuneful, full of sleek contours and thrilling details, it is also an organically conceived showcase for extreme virtuosity on the part of all, especially Lefèvre. The pianist is on fire in this work, delivering with passion, dexterity and tenderness all aspects of this complex, emotional landscape. But his performance would be nowhere near as powerful without the equally sculpted, meticulously shaped and flawlessly executed orchestral partnership Hanson and TSO provided in the live performances of the work, recorded in May 2008.

Mathieu’s four Scènes De Ballet give the orchestra a place to show off its own chops and the group rises to the occasion. From lovely and bittersweet to zesty and fun, these four episodes are a beautiful showcase for TSO’s individual and overall prowess, especially by the woodwinds and harp. But in the third dance – arguably the loveliest of the bunch, Dans Les Champs – former TSO concertmaster Steven Moeckel turns short solo passages into lyrical showcases of incomparable beauty.

The disc is rounded out with four songs for choir and orchestra – luminous but somewhat different works from another era of Mathieu’s writing. Yet while sonically not as spectacular as the other works on the disc, their more introspective grace and beauty warrants the space they are given. The TSO choir, under director Bruce Chamberlain, comes through with a performance as finely crafted and delicately balanced as any on the CD.

In the end, the TSO’s recording debut has yielded a disc no lover of great music can be without, and one that aptly showcases for the world the talent we have seen flower so brightly.

Karina Reyna practices recently with other members of Ballet Folklórico Tapatío. The group gave a full-length recital on Saturday night.

My dream came true Saturday night. The first time I saw Ballet Folklórico Tapatío I wanted to see that group in a full-length recital. The real thing was beyond anything I could have imagined.

From start to close, this group proved over and again why it is regarded as Tucson’s best. The choreography, created by Sergio Valle, was superb: sexy, flirty, often profound and dramatic and always deeply moving. Though clearly rooted in tradition, the choreography took the extra step, not just elevating the tradition to the level of high art but extending the vocabulary of footwork into new realms of story telling. A broad range of Mexico’s regions and states were represented in both dance and colorful, authentic costume as well.

Creating a beautiful concept is one thing. Executing that vision is quite another. Yet here again, Tapatío pulled off every detail to perfection. Its lines were crisp and clean, its footfalls as rhythmically solid as the best orchestral percussion section. The sense of joy in what they were doing was constantly conveyed, except in the sections where a more somber mood was called for. Most impressively, the dancing on the part of both sexes was equally perfect. Too often in folklórico dance we see superb female dancers and considerably weaker males. Here the men were men, whipping through the complex footwork with authority and pride, while the women were their equal in every sense. This was a sensational individual and collective display on the part of BF Tapatío, yielding results even greater than the sum of the parts.

Without question the most impressive part of the show was Tapatío’s set of Corridos Mexicanos (Mexican ballads). Ably accompanied by Mariachi Cielo de Mexico, the group put a dramatic face to three separate tales from Mexican history. The most profound was saved for last: the tale of Polino Guerrero, an honorable man who falls in love with a flirty young girl, is shot in the back and carried off on the shoulders of the men as a hero while the woman do a stylized dance of mourning. Every aspect of the performance was amazing, from the colorful costumes to the perfectly-choreographed steps that traced the lyrics of the corrido. It earned the explosive applause it received.

Tapatío was as generous to its musical partners as it was top-notch in its own performance. The young Mariachi Tesoro de Tucson used its moments in the spotlight to prove that there is no age limit on superb talent. Its instrumental talent was in full display, as was its capable array of solo vocalists. One would never have guessed just hearing this group that its members ranged in age from elementary school to high school.

Guest vocalist Zayra Frausto wore a long dress that was as beautiful and ornate as her voice. Throughout her set she proved that she could take on a myriad of traditional styles and make the songs her own. Her voice was powerful and authoritative, yet lyrical and acrobatic as well, though as an artist she remained grounded enough to put the song ahead of mere display.

Mariachi Cielo de Tucson, led by Juan de Dios Noperi, is another of Tucson’s treasures. Blessed with a stable of strong solo and choral vocal talent, its instrumental ensemble proved likewise up to any and all material it took on. Whether accompanying Tapatío or in its own extended set, the group make a profound impression of pride and flawless ability. Member Anisette Noperi did double duty, capably singing and playing violin with Cielo de Mexico and dancing with Tapatío.

My sole regret is that I was tied up during the afternoon and thus unable to attend the performance by Tapatío’s juvenil and infantil performance groups, at least other than briefly during the finale of the nighttime performance.

And if I could wish for one more thing, it would be for an annual citywide showcase of Tucson’s folklórico talent similar to what the Tucson International Mariachi Conference presents for mariachi musicians. We have a bounty of breathtaking Mexican folk dance talent in our community. We ought to celebrate it.

If you missed Ballet Folklórico Tapatío’s show, go online to www.tucsoncitizen.com where video of the group in action, including a rehearsal for “Coredrama de Polino Guerrero,” is available for viewing. And don’t miss this group the next time around.

George Crumb

Like many a student at the University of Arizona in the early 1970s, I had to take certain humanities classes, among them a survey of Western classical music, taught in cattle-call style in Crowder Hall by the legendary John Bloom. There were roughly 500 of us students from every imaginable background packed into that hall with chunks of masonite on our laps for desks. Most everyone would rather have been anywhere else. But there were moments along the way that were unforgettable.

Part of the workload was to attend concerts and write critiques of the music we heard. It could be most anything but the music we all typically listened to – rock ‘n’ roll. During the week, Bloom would announce what was coming up that we might take in for those assignments.

Now John Bloom was a great guy, but his musical loves were not generally from later than about 1910. So when one day he announced a concert that might be a bit weird, my ears perked up. It was a doctoral recital featuring the music of a living American composer from West Virginia named George Crumb. The soprano soloist on the bill was a tall, beautiful blonde I’d seen around the Music building named Nancy Davis Booth.

The music indeed was strange, but in ways hauntingly beautiful and almost extraterrestrial in nature. Crumb understood the physics of sound as much as he did the length and breadth of classical music, and his sonic landscapes were further fortified with sounds from non-Western traditions, particularly Asian influences. I remember the hair on my neck rising as the soprano sang directly into the strings of the piano through the open lid as the pianist held down the sustain pedal. Her voice vibrated the strings and seemed to hang in the air like a cloud of sound after she stopped singing. The pianist reached inside and strummed rumbling thunder from within the instrument. A percussionist hammered on a gong while another slowly lowered it into a vat of water, the pitch of the gong bending like an eerie, thunderous slide guitar. It was as much theater as it was music.

These were sounds I’d never heard – some of them scary as hell, others moving in a way no language could convey. It was a life-changing experience for me, one that has made me both a lifelong Crumb fan, and a composer.

Later I would discover other composers of the 20th century whose sonic alchemy would arouse my sense of wonder and awe. Among them was the Frenchman Olivier Messiaen, whose ethereal and highly spiritual music found inspiration at times in everything from the songs of birds to mankind’s infinite capacity for redemption in the face of cruelty. A survivor of Hitler’s concentration camps, he continued to find musical inspiration even in that darkest of places.

Messiaen lived into his early 80s. Crumb turns 80 next year. Each has given the world singular yet complementary bodies of mystical work that inspire the imagination and lift the soul. Fitting then that the music of these two composers of similarly peculiar artistry are paired up for of a series of free concerts at the University of Arizona’s Music building. For most of you, it will be music the likes of which you never have heard. But I guarantee that you will leave the concert hall with a keener sense of the sonic world around you.

In particular, take in the concert featuring Crumb’s aptly titled “Dream Sequence.” Delicate, ethereal and sublime, it will take you on a sonic journey of mystery and contemplation. If you dig it, Bridge Records has released a new recording of the work – part 12 of its sonically, historically and musically splendid traversal of Crumb’s complete works.

Olivier Messiaen

———

IF YOU GO

What: Music of George Crumb and Olivier Messiaen

When, Where: Saturday, 2 p.m. (introductory symposium, Holsclaw Hall, southeast corner of Park Avenue and Speedway Boulevard); 4 p.m., organ recital (Holsclaw Hall, Pamela Decker, Mathew Whitehouse, organ); 7:30 p.m. ensembles concert, Crowder Hall, Messiaen: “Oiseaux Exotiques,” “Et Exspecto Resurrectionem Mortuorum,” Crumb: “Quest”

Sunday, 4 p.m.: Chamber Music Recital, Holsclaw Hall, Crumb: “Four Nocturnes,” Messiaen: “Quartet for the End of Time;” 7 p.m. Chamber Music Recital, Crowder Hall, Messiaen: “Merle Noir,” “Fantasy;” Crumb: “Christmas Suite,” “Dream Sequence”

Price: free

Info: 621-1655

Is there such a thing as cutting-edge nostalgia? It seems like there ought to be.

People who have spent decades living on the edge, thinking outside the box and pushing on the envelope must have some sense of the extreme innovations conceived in decades past. Surely there is more to progress than just thinking up new ways to say the same old thing.

All of this came to mind recently when the Brooklyn-based ESP-Disk record label reissued five albums of avant-garde jazz first recorded in the mid-1960s. At that time, jazz had already lost its mainstream audience because so many of the good players started playing bebop. For fans coast to coast who loved dancing to big bands, listening to these tense little bebop combos became hard work. There were so many unexpected chord changes. All the songs were played at such a frenetic pace. Listening became exhausting.

By 1965, forward-thinking jazz musicians were eager to embrace the emerging counterculture spirit of destroying conservative middle-class society. In the musicians’ minds, bebop had failed them, letting the music’s worldwide audience slip away. The Pied Piper had lost his tune. Jazz had been in. Now it was out.

Rock ‘n’ roll with its simple melodies and pile driver beats devoured the radio airwaves and filled the bins in record stores. Progressive jazzers swallowed hard. Their chosen music would not become the sound that defined the second half of the 20th century. But what sound would define the coming decades? Surely not Simon and Garfunkel.

In New York, every nightclub that didn’t book a rock band hired folk-singing duos with names like Jim ‘n I (gemini, get it?). Of course you could still order a steak cooked rare and not feel guilty about it. So that was good.

With tensions running high and the commonly accepted social order being questioned at every turn, unemployed jazz musicians (a redundant term at the time) took to playing in apartment lofts and other unexpected places. Total freedom seemed like a worthy message.

Throw off all assumptions. Don’t expect a sax to sound like a sax. Don’t expect a drummer to swing like a drummer. Chord structure and key signatures, useful in giving music a listenable cohesion, became obstacles to freedom. Free jazz would free the spirit and stimulate the mind.

Anarchy would become the magic ingredient to fluff up life’s true meaning. Don’t do anything (like play notes on pitch) because you have to. Only do it because you want to. Keeping a beat sounds way too rigid. Let the music flow.

Any absence of an established rhythm lets each listener hear a different rhythm, according to what the listener needs at the time. Playing an actual song with an actual beat would be cruel and inhuman arrogance forcing everyone in the audience to hear the same musical phrases at the exact same moment.

How boring is that?

Logic popular at the time was not exactly. . . logical.

That’s the nice thing about cutting-edge nostalgia. The memories can be so sweet. We can laugh at our paranoia after sticking it to The Man. Or was that the illicit drugs talking? Freedom wasn’t just another word for nothing left to lose. Freedom was worth fighting for.

So when freedom fighters had a little time to sit around the house, they wanted to play vinyl albums of free jazz on stereo sets the size of gas ovens.

Now these former freedom fighters can recall the good old days with any of these LP adventures digitally remastered on ESP-Disk CDs. There is an interesting variety.

The Giuseppi Logan Quartet’s self-titled album feels the most expansive, with Logan on alto and tenor sax, Pakistani oboe, bass clarinet and flute. Joining him are Don Pullen (piano), Eddie Gomez (bass) and Milford Graves (drums and tabla).

A bit smaller in scale is the Henry Grimes Trio six-cut release, “The Call.” Grimes on bass is accompanied by Perry Robinson on clarinet and Tom Price on drums.

Exploring the concept of a percussion ensemble is Milford Graves playing drums, bells, gongs and shakers with Sunny Morgan adding more drums and bells.

ESP-Disk also enjoyed recording a folk singing comedy duo The Holy Modal Rounders. They called their music “freak folk,” a most apt description. If you were old enough to enjoy the Sixties but don’t remember much about them, this is a great place to start.

All the recordings can be found at espdisk.com.

Bill Sassenberger, owner of Toxic Ranch, 424 E. Sixth St., is celebrating 20 years of doing business in Tucson.

Inside the purple building on East Sixth Street that has housed Toxic Ranch Records since the summer of 1991, three teenagers are flipping through CDs and vinyl.

“Customers – a rarity,” owner Bill Sassenberger says while The Jesus and Mary Chain play over the speakers. He laughs – he’s a good-natured guy – but business has been far from easy for this independent record purveyor.

Which is why his celebration of 20 years in Tucson deserves two nights of music, with Sassenberger’s longtime friends in Italy’s Raw Power playing Sunday at Vaudeville Cabaret and Monday at Dry River Collective. (It also shows Sassenberger’s commitment to the kids – Dry River is all ages.)

Ebbs and flows seem built into the life of a place like Toxic Ranch, even though its owners (it’s co-owned by Julianna Towns, Sassenberger’s wife) have infused it with personality. Rock and political T-shirts fight for space on the walls – everything from Johnny Rotten’s mug to a “Bush hates me” tee – as do Misfits and Rancid posters. The selection of books and magazines/ zines is dense and focused, and CDs for locals are right on the counter. The indie rock stock ranges from a Captain Beefheart vinyl reissue to the newest Wolf Parade, which later plays in the store.

The life of independent record stores is dependent largely upon the genres in vogue, and recent years have seen the closings of CD City and Hear’s Music. It was partly a shift in tastes that brought Sassenberger and Towns to Tucson in 1988. They’d had a store in Pomona, Calif., since 1980, a time when Sassenberger’s favorite punk bands, such as the Dead Kennedys, were at their peak.

But later in the ’80s, he recalls, the Dead Kennedys broke up. Black Flag broke up. “Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jane’s Addiction were the big things. And I didn’t like that,” he says, adding that the fatigue brought on by L.A.’s freeways didn’t help keep him in the area, either. So they moved their mail-order business and label Toxic Shock and it wasn’t long before the indie rock lover in Sassenberger embraced Tucson’s music scene, putting out records by Feast Upon Cactus Thorns, The Fells, Mondo Guano, Doo Rag, Al Perry. The label spanned about 1983 to 1998, Sassenberger says.

The current recession and the closing of the Fourth Avenue underpass certainly haven’t helped the business, but, “We’re managing,” says Sassenberger, who balances his store with a part-time job as an airline reservationist.

One bright spot, he notes, is a resurgence in vinyl over the past two years. “It’s not just old people getting their records back. It’s younger folks, too.” Sassenberger estimates that he sells two vinyl LPs for every one CD, and that includes everything from reissues to such currents as The Shins. (He sells used records, too.) Toxic Ranch will be at the second Hotel Congress Record Show, Aug. 30.

“This is just kind of a labor of love,” he says.

It’s the same for customers, who will hopefully continue to head to 424 E. Sixth St. for years to come.

———

IF YOU GO

What: Raw Power, Feast Upon Cactus Thorns, Swing Ding Amigos, Limbless Torso

When: 9 p.m. Sunday

Where: Vaudeville Cabaret

Price: $10

What: Raw Power, Terezodu, Skull Stomp, Prosthetics, Walrus, Dahmer Effect, Bloodied Up Knuckles

When: 7 p.m. Monday

Where: Dry River Collective, 740 N. Main Ave.

Price: $7

Info: Contact Toxic Ranch at 623-2008 or visit its Web site, ToxicRanchRecords.com