By Neil Costin
December 1985 - Entertainment Magazine. Page 18
This page is from the 3-volume set of "Entertaining Tucson Across the Decades," a compilation of Tucson's music and entertainment history.
The Speedways will have a special show December 13th
(1985). On this superstitious, bad luck day, The Speedways will be
doing four sets of dead rock stars; Janis, Kimi, the Doors, etc. The
show is called “Dead Rock Star Set.” This will also be repeated on the
14th at the Chicago Bar and on the 31st when they headline at the Showtime Lounge with Bluewave opening the show. There will be a $5 cover charge at this New Year’s Eve show and the band is expecting a full house. The Speedways will also be playing the Showtime from December 16-21st. After a two-month absence, Vicki Borton will
be doing some of the singing. The band is looking forward to an
exciting December, and also looking forward to the upcoming New Year
working with all the clubs around town.
One of Tucson’s finest players of original music, HMS, has just released their second cassette of tunes. Called “Untitled Wish,” the tape is engineered by Steve English.
It has six original compositions by the band that has been included in
their sets for the past few months. The trio guitarist/vocalist John Venet, drummer/vocalist John Booth and bassist/vocalist Mark Mellinger have
one of the tightest sounds to be heard in local clubs over the last
year. Their new tape is available only at gigs and Al Bums, this band has the sound of the 1960s written all over it, and should be heard by all.
Nadine & the MoPhonics recently got a new drummer, Eric Kritzer and a new bass player Jim Monahan. Nadine doesn’t have any dates set until the end of January. The band is writing and learning a lot of new material.
Audience has
been together since last summer. The momentum has really picked up
since they got their new drummer. Audience plays all original rock. They
are a very versatile group. They played at Tequila Mockingbird on December 4th through the 6th. Opening the show was The Distant, formerly Buddy System.
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December 1985 - Entertainment Magazine. Page 16
Just as Affirmative finished playing an opening set at the White Animals/Affirmative concert November 22nd (1985) at Splinter Brothers Warehouse the show was suddenly stopped. It wasn’t because the band was playing bad music. The music was smoking.
The Tucson Fire Department (TFD)
closed Splinter Brothers and ordered all patrons to immediately
evacuate because the 13-year old building didn’t meet current fire code
standards. At 10:00PM, about a half dozen members of the TFD filtered
into the crowd and ordered the building to be evacuated during the show
after citing a number of fire code violations.
At about the same time, Brooklyn’s Night Club was
being checked by TFD. When a TFD officer overhead someone at Splinter
Brother’s determinedly say “We’re going on,” he called for police back
up to avoid any incident. The 100 people were ushered to the exits as
TFD and Tucson Police Department made sure the show wasn’t
going to go on. Disgruntled patrons questions the ethics of shutting the
building town in the middle of the performance. It was an incident that
could have been avoided.
Andy Meshel, David McMahon, Kevin Cunneely, David Every and Kevin Free are the diversified musical talents that make up the fresh new group The Bottom Line. The band will be performing for the new under 21 night club called Global Village (formerly called Nue Venue) at the Tucson YWCA building, on December 20th (1985).
Originals songs of varying tastes will
be debuted as well as compositions by other artists. Some of these
“covers” include selections from the Police, U2, Oingo Boingo and the
Talking Heads. The members of The Bottom Line draw on many different
musical backgrounds to compose their originals. Bottom Line’s sets are
representative of danceable cuts that can still be considered music. In
late December, The Bottom Line will be recording an album at Westwood Recording Studio. There will be a debut party for the recordings on New Years Eve.
By Angie Lumia
December 1985 - Entertainment Magazine
The Press has a very confident outlook for their music. As founding member, guitarist, composer and vocalist David Moskowitz put
it, “quality music, professional musicians, enthusiasm, vivaciousness,
friendliness with an open aesthetic appearance.”
The band members have been working with music for a long time. Some of them are professional performers as well. Robin Wall is the vocalist, keyboardist and composer. Dave Cannal plays bass, sings and composes. Shawn Burch is the bands percussionist. He has been playing since he was six years old. Bonnie Essig is vocals, keyboards, and composer.
One of Tucson’s youngest bands has been making headway on the local music scene. Fiction, a two-man synthesizer group, has performed at Tequila Mockingbird, Brooklyn’s, Nino’s, and the UA Cellar. The band has also performed for the Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Telethon.
Fiction’s first video, “The Insanity Song,” was broadcast on the final edition of KVOA-TV’s Midnight Music Videos.
The group is currently working on a second video and plans to begin production on a half-hour special for Tucson Community Cable Corporation public access channel in the future.
Band members Mike Fisher and Keith Arem, juniors at University High School, will be recording their first demo tape in the coming months. The all keyboard group will appear at Global Village (formerly NueVenue) at E. University Blvd. and 5th Avenue in the Tucson YWCA building on December 13, 1985.
It’s Plan B for Blues All Stars
Plan B is the new name that the Blues All Stars chose
for their title. They will no longer be playing under their former
name. Plan B is holding off on booking until their new set of originals
are complete.
Assorted Images: The Images have plans
By Brian Atkinson
December 1985 - Entertainment Magazine
This month’s profile is on Tucson’s newest bands– Assorted Images. Sergio Bustamante, Joel Pust and Karl Deemer began
Assorted Images one year ago. Sergio said, “that ever since seventh
grade, Joel and I had thought about forming a band, but we didn’t
seriously consider it until we started playing. That’s when we found
Karl.”
The group plays “modern rock almost
techno-rock,” explains Deemer. “We listen to a lot of British groups and
get influenced by them.
Assorted Images seems to be well received by the public. They have opened for Friendly Warning at Nino’s and have also played at various parties and social events.
Deemer believes “our style is completely
different from anything in Tucson.” Bustamante agrees. “Most other
local bands are rougher than we are. We tend to worry about our
melodies. Joel will work on the melody, Karl will play it on the
keyboards, and I’ll do the vocals.”
Both Karl and Sergio agree that their
age does pose a major setback. “It’s hard to get other people to accept
us because of our age. They don’t seem to respect us as musicians.”
Despite their ages, Assorted Images plan
on making a name for themselves locally. With their drive and talent
they will surely make it. Assorted Images will be performing at the new Global Village on December 6, 1985.
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