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Concert update: Opera for All! additions, Fuerza Bruta, Showtime EP moves, Enchilada Fiesta, NMSU cultural series and more

Mexican tenor Jose Luis Duval has joined the cast for the El Paso Opera's second "Opera for All!" concert at 7:30 Sept. 11 at the Plaza Theatre.

Dubbed "Opera for All!: Amor Por Juarez," the concert will be directed by EPO's General Director David Grabarkewitz and will feature various arias and artists in a tribute to both the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the ongoing drug war in Mexico.

Duval has sung all over Mexico and South America, worked with Placido Domingo and made his New York Metropolitan Opera debut in 2005.

He joins a cast that includes New York soprano Lauren Flanigan, recent UTEP graduate Luis Orozco and conductor Carlos Garcia, music director of the Orquestra Sinfonica of the Autonomous University of Ciudad Juarez (not the Juarez Symphony as originally announced).

Conceived as a low-cost, mass-audience introduction to opera, tickets are $25, on sale at the box office, Ticketmaster, ticketmaster.com and 800.745.3000.

A post-concert party will immediately follow at the Alcantar Sky Garden next door. Cast members will attend. Tickets are $75, with proceeds going to Amor Por Juarez campaign. Tickets are on sale from the opera (not Ticketmaster). 

In related developments, EPO has announced some of the casting for its production of "Madama Butterfly" March 10 and 12 at the Plaza, its first full opera production in two years. It will be co-produced with Opera New Jersey, which will stage it in February there then move it here, said Grabarkewitz.

Shu-Ying Li will sing the title role. Grabarkewitz calls her "easily the best Butterfly I've seen." She was in a New York City Opera production of it that Grabarkewitz directed. The TV broadcast won an Emmy Award in 2008.

Japanese native Mika Shigematsu will sing the role of Suzuki and Nicholas Pallesen will portray Sharpless.

Ari Pelto will conduct. Set design will be by Makiko Suzuki with lighting and projections by Steele, who also worked on El Paso Opera's 2009 production of "The Magic Flute" and this year's "Porgy and Bess" concerts.

Info: epopera.org, 581.5534.

In other news:

• Fuerza Bruta, the dazzling aerial troupe from Argentina, will perform nine shows Sept. 30-Oct. 6 at the Union Depot, according to Ricardo Fernandez, the show's promoter and the guy behind the Soata Lofts on Overland Street.

It marks the first time the company has performed outside of New York or Chicago in the United States.

It will be fundraiser for Amor Por Juarez campaign, the Paso del Norte Group campaign to raise money for youth programs in Juarez (El Paso Community Foundation is the administrator of the fund). 

Tickets will cost $50, Fernandez said.

Showtimes and other ticket information has not been announced.

Check 'em out at fuerzabruta.net.

• The folks at the El Paso Convention and Visitors Bureau have moved the Showtime El Paso concerts back to its traditional home, the Chavez Theatre. 

The long-running group was going to move to the Plaza Theatre due to impending renovations to the Chavez. 

But Bryan Crowe, CVB assistant general manager says renovations have been delayed until at least next August, possibly longer. Funding is a holdup, he said. They'll reassess the situation late this year or early next, he said.

Showtime's season starts Sept. 25 with singer and former TV star John Davidson. It's at 7:30 p.m. at the Chavez. Tickets are $25, which is cheap in this day and age, $10 for students aged 6-25. They're sold at the door.

The rest of the season: "The Great American Songbook" (Oct. 29); Duncan Tuck (Dec. 18); "Legacy of Floyd Cramer," with pianist Jason Coleman (Feb. 10); and 2003 "Nashville Star" winner Buddy Jewell (April 29).

Details: showtimeelpaso.com; 544.2022.

• The 30th annual Whole Enchilada Fiesta Sept. 24-26  in Las Cruces will feature performances by Los Lonely Boys (9:30 p.m. Sept. 25), Sunny and the Sunliner Band (4:30 p.m. Sept. 24), the Latin Breed (9:30 p.m. Sept. 24) and Chente Barrera and Taconazo (7:30 p.m. Sept. 24) at the Hadley Sports Complex in Las Cruces.

Admission is $3 at the door (free for kids), $5 for the beer garden.

Info: enchiladafiesta.com; 575.526.1938.

• Tickets go on sale Sept. 1 for the newly named NMSU Cultural Series, which was the ASNMSU Cultural Series, but the student group dropped out. It celebrates its 10th year Sept. 23 with Fuga!, the El Paso border rocker/Mexican music fusionists, in Las Cruces' Rio Grande Theatre.

Other shows include So Percussion (Oct. 21, NMSU Atkinson Recital Hall), the return of sarod player Rajeev Taranath (Nov. 4, Atkinson), jazz group the Junior Mance Quintet (Feb. 3, Rio Grande Theatre); Irish trad group Slide (March 21, Atkinson); and Mexican brass quintet Metales M5 (April 28, RGT).

All shows are at 8 p.m. Season tickets are $75.

Individual tickets are $15, $13.50 for NMSU faculty, staff and children 2-12, $10 for NMSU students, They will be available at the Pan Am Center box office, Ticketmaster outlets, ticketmaster.com and 800.745.3000.

•That Dave Schulz concert Sept. 2 at the Rock House has been canceled due to a routing problem, according to his spokeswoman.

Concert (etc.) update: Little Joe, Music Cafe, One-Eyed Jack, Applejack, Border Lords 2 and more

Little Joe Hernandez is always a popular favorite here on la frontera — so much so he cut a live album here at the Plaza Theatre nearly two years ago.

He returns on Sept. 25, this time to the Chavez Theatre, to headline a benefit concert for Centro Mujeres de la Esperanza (Women of Hope Center).

Dubbed "An Evening Por El Bien de la Mujer," the classic Tejano singer will help raise money for a faith-based non-profit group that works with abused women to give them skills to improve their lives. 

It's being organized by Wise Latina Entertainment, the same two ladies who brought Vikki Carr back to El Paso last year and organized the post-screening reception for "The Dry Land" writer-director and EP native Ryan Piers Williams and his fiancee and executive producer America Ferrera during the Plaza Classic Film Festival.

Tickets for the show are $25, $40 and $50. They go on sale at 10 a.m. Aug. 27 at the Plaza Theatre box office, Ticketmaster outlets, ticketmaster.com and 800.745.3000.

An unspecified discount is being offered on the $50 tickets through Sept. 3.

One thing that could hurt the show: the equally popular Tejano singer Sonny Ozuna will give a free concert at 9 p.m. Sept. 24 at Speaking Rock Entertainment Center.

Hopefully, this town is big enough to support both shows.

In other news:

•UTEP's Special Events office has a new program coordinator, Becky Montes, who replaces Marina Monsisvais, who left to start her own PR and marketing biz. 

Montes has put together her first Wednesday Music Cafe series, which started Wednesday with a set by rock en espanol band Los Plasmatikoz.

The free, noon series takes place in the plaza area outside the Student Union Building, with the exception of the Sept. 1 show by Nino Cooper's rootsy Dirty River Boys, which will be on the lawn of the Geology Building.

Also booked: the sweet harmonies of the Iveys (Sept. 8); the hard pop of Bash (Sept. 15); rockers 3rd Edge (Sept. 22); border reggae perennials Radio La Chusma (Sept. 29); the UTEP marching band (Oct. 6); DJ Mano Sol (Oct. 13); punkers Terroreyes (Oct. 20); rockers VDO (Oct. 27); cumbia-hip-hop fusionists Sons of Villa (Nov. 3) and Latin reggae band Border Roots (Nov. 10).

• Speaking of Border Roots, Mark Alvarado and company will headline the Rum-N-Reggae Bash at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 2 at Ardovino's Desert Crossing in Sunland Park. Appleton rum and rum snow cones will be available. Admission is $15. Call 575.589.0653 or go to ardovinos.com for more info.

• "Viva Mexico," singer and director Malena Cano's celebration of Mexican history and music, returns for its 16th year Sept. 17-19 at the Chamizal National Memorial Theater. This year's version marks the Mexican bicentennial and the centennial of the Mexican Revolution.

Cano, Carlos E. Ayub, Barbie Valdiviez's Ballet Folklorico Aires Internacionales, Mariachi Cuauhtemoc and several others will perform.

Shows are at 7 p.m. Sept. 17-18, 4 p.m. Sept. 19.

Tickets are $12 GA, on sale at All My Children Daycare, 110 N. Zaragoza, Andale Restaurant, 9301 Gateway West, Casa Blanca Flowers & Gifts, 3500 N. Mesa and Gerardo's Restaurant & Bar, 6099 Montana.

Info: 772.3905, 329.7774, vivamexicoelpaso.com.

• Jon Castaneda, Justin Jude Carmona and Rudy Vasquez will be on hand for the release of two new titles from their Project IV Studios at 2 p.m. Aug. 28 at All Star Comics, 4406 Dyer.

Castaneda's new edition of "One-Eyed Jack," a creature trying to get some much-needed shuteye as he battles demons in more than one dimension. Carmona and Vasquez (who recently had a show at the Hal Marcus Studio and Gallery) will show off their new "Dead Horizons" comic, about a zombie-infested world.

They're also touting Carmona's "Hired Gun Book 2: Hard Way to Die" and "Hired Gun Book 3: Hits, Heists & Hang-ups," which features visuals by five different artists including Sirac and Chris Morrill.

Info: 562.0443, project4studios.net.

• UTEP's theater department is having auditions for its studio theater production of "Jesus Hopped the A Train" and its annual production of "A Christmas Carol" from 5-10 p.m. Aug. 27 and 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Aug. 28 in the Wise Family Theatre.

Interested actors need to prepare a contemporary monologue of no more than two minutes. If you don't have one, one will be provided.

In addition to adult roles, children will be needed for "A Christmas Carol."

Callbacks for "Carol" will be 1-5 p.m. Aug. 28.

"Jesus," Stephen Adly Guirgis' 2000 play about two men on death row, will be staged Nov. 11-14 in the Studio Theatre in the Fox Fine Arts Center. 

"Carol" will be performed Dec. 12 and 17-19 in the Wise Family Theatre, also in the Fox Fine Arts building.

Signups are available by calling 747.5146.

• Charlie McDonald's Applejack emerges for a rare show at 8 p.m. Dec. 11 at La Tierra Cafe, 1731 Montana. It's their fifth annual Christmas show. Tickets are $32, which includes dinner. It's a BYOB show.

Details: 592.5122, 575.541.1992.

• Jazz man Bob Burns and singer Lauren Michaels team up for a mix of jazz, country, folk and standards from 2-4 p.m. Aug. 28 at Emilia's on the Plaza in Old Mesilla.

• The DVD of "Border Lords II: Dark Secrets," the locally made drama about a fictional local drug kingpin, is now on sale at All That Music & Video, 1506 Lee Trevino. Co-writer and director Billy Townes, who's a jazz pianist by day, is selling it as his Wednesday night residency at Pelican's. It's also available at borderlords2.com.

• California metalists Confide return at 6 p.m. Oct. 23 at Open Gate Church, 9821 McCombs. Local bands Takes South by Storm, Emerson Grey, This Is a Calling and Ira, The Machine open.

Tickets are $10, all ages. Go to myspace.com/ponyproductions13 for more info.

• Keyboardist Dave Schulz, who has toured with the Goo Goo Dolls and Berlin, is promoting his debut solo album, "Connect," which features heavy hitters like Daniel Lanois and Tony Levin, with the Acoustic Circus Tour, coming at 10 p.m. Sept. 2 to the Rock House Cafe and Gallery, 400 W. Overland.

He'll be joined by fellow LA-based band Elyse and the Aftermath.

Movie update: Film Salon, Cinema Novo seasons announced

Fresh from the success of the Plaza Classic Film Festival, Charles Horak turns his attention to his classic movie series: the free Film Salon series at Trinity-United Methodist Church, 801 N. Mesa.

The fall season is a tribute to actress Barbara Stanwyck. 

It starts at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 4 with “Stella Dallas,” followed by “Ball of Fire” (Oct. 2), “Sorry, Wrong Number” (Nov. 6) and “The Furies” (Dec. 4).

Go to filmsalon.org for more info.

In other movie news, UTEP's Cinema Novo film series has picked up to locally connected films that showed at this year's Plaza Classic — Omar Rodriguez Lopez's "The Sentimental Engine Slayer" and the immigration drama "Ilegales."

"Engine Slayer" is firm for Oct. 1. "Ilegales" is tentative for Oct. 2

The sked so far is heavy on documentaries, including "More Than a Game," about LeBron James' journey to the NBA, "Waking Sleeping Beauty," about Disney's return to animated blockbuster film prominence, and "Striking a Chord," which deals with post-traumatic stress disorder suffered by American military personnel.

All shows will be at 7 p.m. in the UTEP Union Cinema on the first floor of the Union East Building.

Here's a rundown of firm and tentative titles that follow:

Aug. 27-28: "Babies"

Sept. 10-11: "Winter's Bone"

Oct. 1: "The Sentimental Engine Slayer"

Oct. 2: "Ilegales" (tentative)

Oct. 15-16: "More Than a Game"

Oct. 29-30: "Waking Sleeping Beauty"

Nov. 12-13: "Striking a Chord"

Nov. 19-20: Oliver Stone's "South of the Border" (tentative)

Keep an eye on utepspecialevents.com for details.

Disney on Ice tix go on sale Aug. 28

Mickey, Minnie and the newest Disney princess, Tiana from "The Princess and the Frog," will be on frozen water when "Disney on Ice presents Let's Celebrate" comes to the Coliseum for nine shows.

Performances will be at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 6-8 (the Oct. 7 show will be in Spanish), and noon, 3:30 and 7;30 p.m. Oct. 8-10.

The show features 50 characters from 16 different Disney franchises taking part in celebrations from around the world, including a Hawaiian luau with Lilo & Stitch, 7:30 p.m. Oct. 7 (in Spanish), a winter wonderland with Mickey and Minnie and a royal ball with various Disney princesses.

Tickets are $15, $21, $26, $30 (VIP) and $42 (rinkside), on sale at 10 a.m. Aug. 28 at the box office, Ticketmaster outlets, ticketmaster.com and 800.745.3000.

Stones update: 'Exile' concert film in theaters Sept. 16, on Blu-ray Oct. 12

The first time I saw "Ladies and Gentlemen, the Rolling Stones" was in 1973 at Cielo Vista Cinemas, back when they had a theater inside the mall. I was 15, a huge Stones fan and this was as close to seeing them live as I'd ever been.

It pretty much disappeared after that.

The next time I saw it was in the cold Michigan winter of 2005. It was a poor quality DVD bootleg I got from a fellow Stones fan. I had just gotten divorced and moved into my own house, celebrating with margaritas, a cigar and the audio cranked up on the home theater system. Bliss.

This was the Stones as fans like me loved them — taut, raw, intense, focused. A real living, breathing band at the top of its game. No bells and whistles. 

It was filmed over four shows in Houston and Fort Worth on the band's legendary 1972 American tour, the one in support of "Exile on Main St."

It's finally coming out Oct. 12 on Blu-ray.

To promote it, the rarely shown film will play movie theaters across the country at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 16, including Cielo Vista Cinemas and Cinemark West. 

Tickets are $10 and $12.50, on sale at the theaters, cinemark.com and fathomevents.com.

This version is a high-def remastered print, which features a recent interview with Mick Jagger, rehearsal footage from Montreux and a 1972 interview with Jagger from the BBC's "Old Grey Whistle Test."

Its 15 songs focus heavily on "Exile," including "Tumbling Dice," "Happy," "Sweet Virginia," "All Down the Line" and "Rip This Joint," with plenty of other songs from that era, including "Gimme Shelter," "Bitch," "Brown Sugar," "Dead Flowers," "You Can't Always Get What You Want" and a cover of Chuck Berry's "Bye Bye Johnny."

This was the Stones' best lineup musically, with Mick Taylor on lead guitar and a trio of their most famous backup musicians — late pianist Nicky Hopkins, Lubbock sax man Bobby Keys and Fort Worth/Midland trumpeter Jim Price, all of whom played on "Exile."

Concert update: Speaking Rock adds Korn, Blondie, Bret Michaels, Sonny Ozuna and more

Things are really rocking at the Speaking Rock Entertainment Center.

In addition to its first Pow Wow this weekend (with Keith Secola and Redbone Aug. 21-22 plus Candlebox Aug. 22), the venue is really starting to snag some bigger acts, the kind that can play arenas and large theaters.

That Korn, who is listed for an Oct. 30 show, Blondie on Nov. 16 and rock 'n' roll survivor Bret Michaels on Nov. 30.

Other new adds to the schedule include Sonny Ozuna and the Sunliner Band on Sept. 24 (that's a day before his contemporary, Little Joe y La Familia, plays a benefit at the Chavez), the return of Enanitos Verdes on Oct. 6-7 and La Mafia on New Year's Eve.

Best of all for consumers — they're free.

The shows typically are at 9 p.m.

Go to speaking-rock.com or call 860.7777 for details.

Concert update: Fiesta de las Flores, Iglesias, As I Lay Dying, Michael Martin Murphey, Border Legends and more

It's a little hard to believe that Fiesta de las Flores is just around the corner. Did summer really go by that fast?

The annual Labor Day Weekend celebration returns for its 59th year Sept. 3-5 in and around the Coliseum.

This year's headliners include El Paso's own, Grammy-nominated Los Rieleros del Norte (11:30 p.m. Sept. 5) and fellow norteno band Intocable (11:30 p.m. Sept. 4).

Other performers include local artists Border Roots, Exito and the El Paso Band.

Tickets are $5 for Sept. 3, $5 for kids and $12.50 for adults, plus service charges, for Sept. 4-5.

They're on sale now at the box office, Ticketmaster outlets, ticketmaster.com and 800.745.3000.

Go to fiestadelasflores.org for the full sked and other details.

In other concert news:

• Comedian Gabriel Iglesias, not singer Enrique Iglesias, will perform at the Plaza Theatre in January. There was a mixup in the information and I got it wrong in last week's blog and "That's the Ticket" column. 

There's no official date or ticket info yet, but the last time Gabe was here in April 2009, he sold out two shows and taped them for his "I'm Not Fat ... I'm Fluffy" Comedy Central special and DVD.

Gabe was here last month signing copies of his recent Blu-Ray release of his first concert video, "Hot and Fluffy."

• San Diego metalists As I Lay Dying, touring in support of new album "The Powerless Rise," headlines a four-act bill coming to Club 101 at 7 p.m. Sept. 14. Also performing: All That Remains, Unearth and fellow San Diegans Carnifex.

Tickets are $20, on sale at the club and Ticketbully.

101 also will host metal bands Slow Roast, Kill the Noise, Klever, Craze and Bi at 9 p.m. Aug. 27. Tickets are $16 at the club and Ticketbully.

Also booked: The rescheduled Panteon Rococo 15th anniversary tour show (originally in August) at 8 p.m. Sept. 1 ($25 advance, $30 day of, on sale at the club, All That Music & Video, the Headstand and Ticketbully); and I Wrestled a Bear Once, with Eyes Set to Kill and others at 6 p.m. Oct. 19 ($15 at the club and Ticketbully).

• Remember Michael Martin Murphey? The guy who sang "Wildfire" in the '70s? Today, he's considered one of the top cowboy singers around, and he's coming to Las Cruces' Rio Grande Theatre Sept. 11 to headline a VIP reception for the NM city's first Colors of Las Cruces festival, a two-day event celebrating art painted alfresco.

Tickets are $40, $70 per couple and $34 military. They're on sale at participating galleries in LC and the theater. Go to las-crucesarts.org or call 575.523.6403 for more info.

• Speaking of golden oldies, the third annual Border Legends concert will be Oct. 16 at Isaron Hall, 1071 Country Club. Performers include Randy Fuller of the Bobby Fuller Four, Zoomer Roberts, the Moonpie Daince Band, Rod Crosby and the Intruders and more.

Tickets are $10. Call 252.9840.

• A little ticket update on that Cracker show next month at the Rio Grande Theatre in Las Cruces. The show, at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 15, is a fundraiser for Las Cruces aerialists Project IN Motion (who'll perform snippets of their Halloween show) and the J. Paul Taylor Detention Center. 

Tickets are $15 in advance at Hubbard's Music in Las Cruces and El Rincon de Mesilla, $18 at the theater and online at holdmyticket.com. 

VIP tickets, which include a meet-and-greet with the band, are $45.

• Yo Gabba Gabba fans can enter the "Cool Tricks" contest for a chance to win a VIP family four-pack for the popular kids show's "There's a Party in My City!" tour, including a Dec. 7 show at the Abraham Chavez Theatre.

Fans can upload 30 to 60-second videos of themselves performing a cool trick at facebook.yogabbagabbalive.com. You can enter now through Nov. 27. Winners are determined by popular vote. Winners will be notified and announced.

• Just a reminder that Leah and the Moonlighters, the cool Austin jazz group that includes El Paso native Aaron Goldfarb on guitar, will play an intimate show at El Adobe Studios at 8 p.m. Aug. 20. Tickets are $15 in advance, $20 at the door. Call 549-3484 or email aaron@leahandthemoonlighters.com for more information.

• Tejano band Grupo Vida, also known as the Electric Cowboys, will perform at 6:30 p.m. Aug. 21 at the Ysleta Mission, 131 Zaragoza. InKietos Musikal opens. Tickets are cheap: $5 in advance, $7 at the gate, $25 VIP per couple, with proceeds going to a group of area children going to World Youth Day next year. Details: 859.9848.

• Del Castillo will close out this year's Rudolph Chevrolet Honda Mazda Music Series at the State Line restaurant on Sept. 8. Also booked: William Clark Green, Aug. 25; and Turnpike Troubadours, Sept. 1. Shows start at 8 and are free, though you are encouraged to bring cans of food to donate to the West Texas Food Bank.

• Radio La Chusma and Atlanta's Gringo Star are teaming up to help open a new club called 6 Strings at 1160 Airway. It's in that rundown looking shopping center near the old Zen-Meister, just over from Club 101.

They're playing there at 8 p.m. Aug. 27. It's free and a 21-and-over show.

• Another Elektro Bash is coming to Wet-n-Wild Waterworld from 6 p.m.-midnight Sept. 3. It'll be at the wave jungle pool and will include several dance music DJs, video screens, go-go dancers and more. It's $10 at the gate from 6-8 pm, $15 after. There are no advance tickets. Details: 630.2206.

• Sibling trio the Iveys are back from a two-month tour that focused on the West Coast. They're playing a homecoming show with Silk Flamingo and the Beat at 7 p.m. Sept. 10 at the Percolator. It's an all-ages show.

• Jazz pianists Billy Townes and Ruben Gutierrez team up with singer Monica Gutierrez and others for Jazz'tory at the Philanthropy, a night of classic jazz (think Monk, Corea, Waller, Joplin and Evans) at 6 p.m. Sept. 19 in the Philanthropy Theatre next to the Plaza Theatre.

It's being promoted by the El Paso Friends of Jazz Society.

Tickets are $25, on sale at the Plaza box office, Ticketmaster outlets, ticketmaster.com and 800.745.3000. Go to elpasofriendsofjazz.org for more info.

• Sunland Park Racetrack and Casino is bringing in Elvis and Shakira impersonators for a single show Sept. 23 in the Signature Showroom. Harry Shahoian, who has been in some Las Vegas tribute shows, does Elvis, while Inez Zak, a fellow veteran of Vegas' Superstars Live in Concert, does the booty-shaking Colombian.

Tickets are $20. Call 575.874.5200.

• Hey, Doug Adamz fans, the former El Paso singer and guitarist has just posted a video for "The Authentic Skulls of Pancho Villa," a song from his newest album that he joking refers to as the "true and official tale of what happened to" the Mexican revolutionary.

It was recorded in May at the Acoustic Vortex in Larkspur, CA.

Go to youtube.com/wtch?v=j1f9tskGFhc.

Memorial service Aug. 21 for country drummer Cindy Bickford

Cindy Bickford, who played drums for the KHEY Band, Charlie Russell Band and others, died early this morning.

She was 57, according to fellow musician Jerry M. Shapiro.

"I was privileged to play music with her," said Shapiro, who was in the KHEY and Russell bands with her, as well as Northern Pass and Texas.

"Cindy was a dear friend, accomplished musician, mainly a fine drummer and vocalist," said Shapiro.

He also said Bickford was once a teacher of the year at Desertaire Elementary School, and was a co-owner of A2B Driving School.

"She was a kind, and loving person, great with kids and a wonderful, supportive band member," he said.

Bickford was battling cancer at the time of her death, he said.

A memorial service is planned for 11 a.m. Aug. 21 at Northeast Bible Fellowship Church, 5505 Threadgill.

Concert update: Band of Heathens play it loose

Austin's The Band of Heathens, who headline tonight's free concert series at 8 at the State Line, didn't become a band in the usual sense. All five members were doing their own thing and would get together informally.

That led to a regular weekly gig at a local watering hole, then other bars, then touring and, before they knew it, they were a band. 

Now the group, which has released two live and two studio albums, is the main focus of its members.

And when they are together onstage, which is about 250 times a year, they find themselves trying to take their collective talents and passions to a higher level.

"It started off with us sitting in with each other in different bands. Never any rehearsal. Never any set list. And I think that vibe, whatever it is, four years later, it's carried over," says guitarist Gordy Quist, one of three singers and songwriters in the quintet. "We still don't use set lists and ... (we're) always kind of searching for not necessarily a new way to play something; it's more about searching for a higher high, to get to that magical place that's different from the last one."

The group — singer and multi-instrumentalist Ed Jurdi, singer-guitarist Colin Brooks, bassist Seth Whitney, drummer John Chipman and Quist — were so enamored of the live experience that its first two albums were concert recordings.

Their first studio album, which is self-titled, came out in 2008. Their newest, "One Foot in the Ether," came out last year. It wasn't the the studio was foreign to them. Songwriters Jurdi, Brooks and Quist all had released solo albums on their own.

Their approach in the studio isn't much different than their approach on stage. Loose and in-the-pocket.

"We all set up in one room. We don't like to piece songs together part by part. We get a real, live foundation for the song, with everybody playing together and get the live performance down. Then we layer it," Quist says.

Even the "Ether" album wasn't planned, it just came kind of grew out of recording and writing sessions they booked between touring runs. But they have plenty of stuff written and plan to start work on a third studio effort later this month.

"We are holding back four albums worth of back catalogue of three writers with two (solo) albums each," Quist says. "We can play a different set every night and not repeat songs."

They met while playing on Wednesdays nights at Momo's in Austin, first as solo acts, then sitting in together. It was billed as the Good Time Supper Club, but they were mistakenly listed as The Heathens in a local publication, which they adopted as the weekly gigs turned into a fulltime one.

Part of the band's charm, of course, it its music. It's called Americana these days. You can see the blues, country and folk roots sticking out of the rich dirt that sprung 'em. But you can also hear traces of, to name a few, Little Feat, Neil Young, the Rolling Stones and Johnny Cash, all a la the early '70s, in their earthy mix.

The band's diverse musical influences stem from the fact that its members were drawn to Austin from all over the country. Quist is originally from the Houston area, Chipman's from Oklahoma, Whitney from Washington state, Brooks has lived in Michigan, Ohio, Brookly and Taos and Jurdi moved there from Boston.

The very natural growth these five musicians have experienced as a band, plus all that touring, has made the group agile when it comes to adapting to different environments. It's played "Austin City Limits" and just played the massive Lollapalooza festival in Chicago. And it can play a small, noisy, outdoor set up like the State Line concert series.

"There's no formula for it," Quist notes. "It's one of those things where we play it by ear, read the crowd, see what it feels like."

That's true anywhere, including here. But the guitarist says the band does have certain unpleasant memories it associates with the Sun City.

"Our usual El Paso experience," he says, "usually involves drug dogs and secret agents searching our vehicle."

Mini-Concert Review: Porcupine Tree gets cathartic at Club 101

I'm a fairly recent convert to Porcupine Tree, the cerebral British rock group that is sort of a modern equivalent of King Crimson. Though I had their 2002 album, "In Absentia," and 2005's "Deadwing," I never really listened to them.

Then along came 2007's "Fear of a Blank Planet," on which the quartet built soaring, 21st century schizoid rock around singer-guitarist-pianist-songwriter Steven Wilson's cautionary tale of a young generation so doped up and anesthetized by audio-video stimulation that they've lost touch with all reality.

That one got me. I listened to it constantly. I did a telephone interview with Wilson, who was every bit as engaging, intelligent and learned as he was a superlative chronicler of the human condition.

I was pleasantly surprised when I heard that PT was coming to Club 101 on Tuesday, part of a 12-city coheadlining tour with American counterparts Coheed and Cambria. 

No knock on C&C, but I was a lot more interested in what Tree had to offer, since I've found the music on "Blank Planet," last year's song cycle "The Incident" and the aforementioned "In Absentia" and "Deadwing" to be far more challenging and ultimately more gratifying.

My nephew Tom Pullen's arrival from Austin, where he helps run the Encore music and video store, specifically for this show sort of sealed the deal for me. Since he had a morning flight back (he's seeing the show again in San Antonio) and I was wiped out tired, we agreed we'd leave after PT's set.

Neither one of us left 101 disappointed. The band, augmented by touring guitarist and backup singer John Wesley, opened by reeling off five straight songs from "The Incident," which is essentially one 14-part song stretching over 55 minutes. They opened with the short, ominous "Occam's Razor," which melded into the Crimson-like "The Blind House," inspired by Texas' Yearning for Zion Ranch, where male polygamists once ruled.

The run culminated with "Drawing the LIne," with its driving, guitar-fueled rhythm and Wilson's emphatic vocal. It's one of the most compelling — and radio-friendly — songs on the new album. 

From there, the 75-minute set jumped between songs from "Blank Planet" (including a big, whomping chunk of "Anesthetize" and a soaring "Way Out of Here," propelled by Gavin Harrison's machine gun-drumming), "Deadwing" (Wilson playfully botched a line during "The Start of Something Beautiful") and "In Absentia" ("The Sound of Muzak" turned up the intensity a notch).

It was, as Wilson noted, a short set, but one that showcased the band's considerable chops — Harrison and bassist Colin Edwin are monster players — Wilson's smartly crafted, often episodic songs and the band's impressive dynamic range, which builds on repetitive rhythms and roiling tension. The still and video images created by Danish photographer Lasse Hoile, their longtime visual collaborator, added an ominous eeriness to many of the songs.

It was good, cathartic stuff. The reaction of the 700 or so people in the club was pretty enthusiastic, which surprised me (it's not like they get any radio around here) and them.

Here's hoping they come back, next time as a headliner with a longer set.