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Concert update: Michael Jackson and Pink Floyd laser shows return

Got some updated info for you on that Michael Jackson laser show I posted about earlier.

Its official name is "The Spirit of Michael — A Live Concert Tribute," and it will be at 7 p.m. Jan. 22 at the Chavez Theatre.

It will be followed by "The Pink Floyd Laser Spectacular" at 9 p.m Jan. 22 at the Chavez.

The MJ show combines lasers, video and a crew of impersonators and dancers, who recreate some of the gloved one's most iconic choreography. It covers a 40-year stretch of music.

The Floyd show is in its 25th year. It's a two-hour laser show, the kind usually seen at planetariums and features "Dark Side of the Moon" in its entirety as well as several of the English prog-rockers best known songs.

Tickets are $24.50-$35 for the MJ show, $29.50 for the PF show, plus service charges.

They go on sale at 10 a.m. Dec. 31 at the Plaza Theatre box office, Ticketmaster outlets, ticketmaster.com and 800.745.3000.

 

Concert update: Fluffy adds third show, MJ laser show and more

El Paso loves it some Fluffy.

Comedian Gabriel "Fluffy" Iglesias has added a third show to his run next month at the Plaza Theatre.

The newly added show will be at 7 p.m. Jan. 16.

Tickets — at $34.50 plus service charges — go on sale at 10 a.m. Dec. 29 at the box office, Ticketmaster outlets, ticketmaster.com and 800.745.3000.

Iglesias' Jan. 14 show is all but sold out, with a second show on Jan. 15 selling well.

The three shows will be his first here since he performed at the venue in April 2009, filming one of those shows for his "I'm Not Fat ... I'm Fluffy" DVD and Comedy Central special there.

In other concert news:

• Remember those Pink Floyd and Michael Jackson laser shows that were here last January? Well, another one's on its way next month. Paramount Laser Spectacular's "The Spirit of Michael" will set the self-proclaimed King of Pop's music to laser lights.

It will be at 7 p.m. Jan. 22 at the Chavez Theatre.

Tickets are $24.50 and $35, plus service charges, on sale at 10 a.m. Dec. 31 at the Plaza box and Ticketmaster outlets, ticketmaster.com and 800.745.3000.

• A couple of forthcoming rock shows to report. New York post-hardcore rockers Glassjaw play Club 101 at 6 p.m. Feb. 23. Tickets are $20, on sale at Ticketbully.

The Miniature Tigers, a fairly new pop-rock band from Phoenix, and Pepper Rabbit play the Lowbrow Palace at 8 p.m. March 23. Those tickets are $8 at Ticketbully.

 

Concert update: STP date pushed back six days

The Stone Temple Pilots' free concert at Speaking Rock Entertainment Center has been pushed back almost a week.

It will be Feb. 23 at the Lower Valley venue, noted for its free shows by big-name acts.

The originally announced date was Feb. 17.

It'll be the reunited band's first El Paso show since 2008. A September concert at the Coliseum was called off after singer Scott Weiland had a meltdown onstage in Houston a few nights earlier.

 

Concert update: George-Reba date revised; Snoop show devised

Turns out that George Strait-Reba McEntire tour will hit the Pan Am on March 25, not March 26 as originally announced.

And tickets won't go on sale until Feb. 11, not December as originally announced.

The new info comes from NMSU's Special Events office, which is coordinating the date with its former director, Barbara Hubbard, who is co-promoting the show via her American Collegiate Talent Showcase nonprofit and The Messina Group.

Capacity for the show will be 13,000, according to the Special Events office, which will announce ticket prices soon.

In other big concert news (and sorry this is late, I was on vacation last week): Snoop Dogg is coming to Club 101.

The enduring rapper with the buttery flow will bring his Get Wet tour to 101 on Feb. 10.

Tickets are $30 in advance, $35 day of show. It's a 21-and-over show. Tickets are on sale at the club and Ticketbully.

 

 

Concert update: Punk reunion moved to Peoria (club, that is)

Lindy Hernandez, organizer of the Dec. 26 El Paso punk rock reunion show, is moving the event to the Peoria nightclub that night.

Why? According to a Facebook message she sent (hey, I'm on vacation, so that's how I saw it), the original venue, Starr City Icehouse, has closed, forcing the move.

I happened to drive by Starr City, the old Rods and Wheels I believe, this evening and noticed the words "For Sale" on the marquee. There was a different message on there yesterday.

So, the show is on, it's at Peoria (the old Club 101 on Mesa) and it's now all-ages.

Lindy plans to film it for a forthcoming documentary on the local punk scene in the 1990s.

Update: Binational honors, punk reunion, Fungi tix and more

Feature film titles for the 11th annual Binational Independent Film Festival haven't been announced yet, but the lifetime achievement honorees have.

American actor Seymour Cassel and Mexican actor and TV host Xavier "Chabelo" Lopez will be honored at next year's festival, which will run Jan. 7-15 in El Paso and Juarez.

You've probably seen Cassel but don't know his name. If you're a fan of Texan Wes Anderson's movies, then you've seen him in "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou," "The Royal Tenanbaums" and "Rushmore." If you're a fan of indie filmmakers, like John Cassavetes, then you've seen him in several the late director's movies, including "Faces," for which Cassel, now 75, was nominated for a best supporting actor Oscar.

He also was hilarious as the cheesy small-time Hollywood agent for conjoined twins played by Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear in the Farrelly Brothers' "Stuck on You."

Chabelo is a veteran of Mexican movies, but is best known for hosting the long-running Televisa show "En Familia con Chabelo," which has been on Televisa for 40 years. He involves audience members and their kids in various games and contests.

The documentaries, which will be shown for free at 5:15 p.m. daily this year, will be screened at the El Paso Public Library. 

The feature films will show at 7 p.m. daily at the UTEP Union Cinema and will be followed by discussions with the filmmakers. Admission remains $4, $2 for seniors, students and military.

New this year: a weekend series of first-time films at 4 p.m. at the UTEP theater, which will be followed by discussions.

The films also will show in Juarez at the Central Cultural Paso del Norte, where the docs will be free and features will be 20 and 40s pesos, with proceeds going to FEMAP.

Organizers say the next installment of the festival will includes movies from Argentina, Canada, Chile, Ireland, Mexico and the United States.

Monitor binationalfilmfestival.org for updates.

• Speaking of movies, '90s punk scenester Lindy Hernandez is making a documentary film about that period in local music history. To raise money for it, she''s promoting "A Punk Rock Reunion" at 7 p.m. Dec. 26 at Starry City Icehouse, 9809 Montana.

Faction X, Potato Justice, VBF, Debaser, Wednesday, Sbitch and Fixed Idea will perform. Admission is $7 for 18-20, $5 for 21 and up. 

Lindy says the movie will be punk "Chuco" style. "I'm hoping to cover every aspect of the scene, the bands, promoters, zines, venues, record labels, etc. There was a very strong and diverse scene and I feel that it is important to document it because I don't think that the scene will ever be the same again," she said of a period that produced At the Drive-In, among others.

She's been collecting materials and will film the show and conduct some interviews this week while some of the players are in town. Hernandez hopes to have it done by July and will stage another show, with other bands, for the DVD release party.

• Local jazz group Tony Castro and the Crosstown Trio will play the New Year's Eve party at Ardovino's Desert Crossing this year. They'll be followed by Soul Child.

The $100 admission price include a steak and shrimp dinner and a glass of champagne.

Doors open at 5 p.m. 

Details: 575.589.0653, ardovinos.com.

• Speaking of New Year's Eve parties, that Fungi Mungle bash at the Camino Real I posted about earlier has more than a $40 GA price. For $60, you get a ticket and dinner at Azueljos. For $100, you get a ticket and dinner at the Dome Bar.

Varoious room packages also are available.

Go to fungimungle.com.

• Arizona punkers Authority Zero play Club 101 at 10 p.m. Jan. 24. Tickets are 10 bucks at Ticketbully.

• Texas country comer Aaron Watson returns to Whiskey Dicks at 10 p.m. Feb. 19. Tickets are $10, on sale at Ticketbully.

 

Concert update: Juanes, Mariachi Vargas, Hands for Help, Elefante, Loya lights, NY Eve and more

Colombian rock superstar Juanes has played peace concerts in Cuba and the border of his native country and Velenzuela.

Wonder if his return to this border will be designed to promote peace or just his new album.

Juanes returns to the Coliseum for a concert at 8 p.m. April 2. It comes on the heels of his just-released new album, "P.A.R.C.E.," taken from "parcero," a Colombian word for "friend."

Tickets are $37 and $77, plus service charges, and will go on sale at 10 a.m. Jan. 15 at the box office, Ticketmaster outlets, ticketmaster.com and 800.745.3000. A pre-sale will run from 10 a.m. Jan. 13 to 10 p.m. Jan. 14.

He's not the only Spanish-language act coming our way in the new year (but he's the second Colombian to play here lately, after Shakira's two-day run last October at the Don). Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlan returns to the Plaza Theatre at 8 p.m. Feb. 18.

Tickets are $30 and $85, plus service charges, on sale Dec. 16 at the box office, Tickmasters, ticketmaster.com and 800.745.3000.

In other concert news:

• EP's psychedelic blues-rockers Refried Ice Cream will headline another in their series of benefits for Hands of Love and Hope, which works with orphans living near the Juarez dump.

It's from 4-8 p.m. Dec. 21 in the parking lot of the Barnett Harley-Davidson of El Paso dealership, 8272 Gateway East.

Admission is the donation of some of the items they need, including blankets, bottled water, rice, dry beans and school supplies.

The band recently released a new album, "Witness to the Storm," inspired in part by the violence going on across the Rio Grande.

• Mexican rockers Elefante play Nova Luna Ultra Bar, 2270 Joe Battle, at 8 p.m. Dec. 17.

Tickes $30 GA, $40 VIP, on sale at the club (the one with the really cool lights on the facade), 588.8596.

The club's also doing a fundraiser for Candlelighters of El Paso, which works with young cancer patients, starting at 8 p.m. Dec. 16. Called "Little Black Dress Thursday," it includes a $5 cover and free drinks from 8-10 p.m. for women wearing black dresses.

• The Fred Loya house at the corner of Paseo de Oro and Bob Mitchell (off Montwood) in far east El Paso is offering two different synchronized Christmas light shows this year, a new one and the popular one that choreographs more than 400,000 lights to the music of Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

They're running at 6, 7 and 8 p.m. Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through Jan. 1.

• Mini Mansions, the trio fronted by Queens of the Stone Age bassist Michael Shuman, returns to EP for a show at 9 p.m. Dec. 17 at M's Lips Lounge, 510 N. Stanton.

The band will be joined by Halfbreed Lovers, the Strangler Fig and Cult Heroes, who'll do a DJ set before the live music starts

It's an 18 and over show. Cover is $5.

• Just a reminder that tickets for "All Shook Up," the Elvis jukebox musical coming to the Plaza Theatre on Feb. 13, will go on sale Dec. 17.

They range from $25 to $48.50, plus service fees. The show is based on Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night."

Tickets will be on sale at the box, Ticketmasters, ticketmaster.com and 800.745.3000.

• All That Music & Video is getting into the record label business. The popular east side music store is release "La Banda Internacional de Ray Camacho" on Dec. 17. It was executive produced by store owner George Reynoso and features 19 of the '60s group's hits and most requested songs, including "Pecadora," "Cumbia del Sol" and "Cumbia Caliente."

The set also features the novelty song "La Ruca No Era Ruca," the band's last hit in 1987.

Camacho is an El Paso native who grew up in California and worked farms as a teen while fronting his own band. He's got three gold albums to his credit.

The CD will sell for $14.99 at the store at 1506 Lee Trevino, and may be purchased at Amazon.

• With one under their belt, El Paso Comic Con 2011 organizers have lined up a big one, literally, in Peter Mayhew, who played Chewbacca in the "Star Wars" movies. Anthony Montgomery, Ensign Travis Mayweather on TV's "Star Trek: Enterprise" also will appear at the confab, which will be Sept. 10-11 at the Wyndham by the airport.

Advance tickets are $20 for one day, $35 for two (there's $5 off for military with ID), on sale by calling 317.9455 or going to brokentrees.com.

• "Border Lords 2: Dark Secrets," Billy Townes and Mark Love's sequel to their local indie hit, is now available on Time Warner Cable's on-demand channel 831, part of the cable giant's El Paso OD Film Festival.

The DVD is for sale at All That Music, Fellini Film Cafe and Griffins Records.

• An El Paso Chorale Society spokesman says their recent "The Gift of Christmas" concerts drew 900 people to the Union Depot Dec. 5-6.

"Attendance doubled over last year," said Ted Wehmeyer, noting the concerts were at Trinity-First United Methodist in '09.

There were three concerts in all, two featuring the Prentice Loftin Chamber Singers one with wife Yvonne Marmolejo's Young Ladies Choir, the group that performed on NPR last year.

In related news, the Dec. 7 sellout of "Yo Gabba Gabba! Live!: There's a Party in My City" at the Chavez Theatre neted $2,500 for the local Habitat for Humanity.

"I was there manning a booth and you could feel the excitement in the air," said Lisa Ruley, a Habitat volunteer and marketing director for Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center.

• "The First Date," a 14-minute film by El Paso artist Jesus Monsivais, will get its debut on New Year's Eve at M's Lips Lounge. And, get this, it includes a song called "Delorean" by The Mars Volta singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala.

It'll be screened as part of a free NY Eve party called "Rebel Rebel" that night at the club.

"'Rebel Rebel' is the theme since the movie is about a rebellious character, the place we're holding it at is kinda rebellious and, since it has (a) Mars Volta bad boy doing the music," Monsivais emailed.

The movie stars Daniela Gomez, Megan Antonetti-Elford and Miguel Monsivais. The filmmaker, who was included in the Hal Marcus Gallery's recent "Drawing: The Essence of Art" exhibit, describes the movie, which has been accepted to the South by Southwest Film Festival in March, as "a dark comedy about a crazy sort-of love triangle based around a first date."

Bixler-Zavala formed a group called Oso for the project. It includes Mars Volta bassist Juan Alderete and local guitarist Ralph Jasso.

It also includes a song called "Estupida Querida" by Texas conjunto upstarts Tejano Boys.

The bash is a fundraiser for the filmmaker, who is trying to get his movie into various film festivals. It runs 14 minutes now but Monsivais said he could expand it.

• Speaking of New Year's Eve, Club 101 is planning another big party. Co-owner Joe Dorgan and Paul Kish will spin a variety of "'80s retro, disco  hits, old-school hip-hop anthems, dance remixes, '90s post-New Wave and (a sprinkling of) some sexy Top 40," Joe says.

Doors open at 8. It's 21 nd over. Admission's $10 before 10 p.m., $15 after.

Call 544.2101 or go to club101.com for more info.

Meanwhile, disco revivalists Fungi Mungle will boogie down for a New Year's Eve Bash at 8 p.m. Dec. 31 in the Camino Real Hotel.

Ultimate's Party and Liquid Skin also will perform.

Tickets are $40, on sale at the hotel and via the band.

Call 534.3000 or go to fungimungle.com to buy tickets.

Carlos Flores, the buy behind the Electro Bash series, has booked veteran Cruces bands Phat Soul and Dulce for his New Year's Celebration 2011 at the Ramada Palms, 201 E. University, in Las Cruces.

Tickets are $35 for the 21-and-over party. Call 630.2206, 575.526.4411 (ext. 402) or go to pre-e.com or ramadalascruces.com for details.

• The folks at Club Dedo, 204 E. Rio Grande, come up with some funky ideas, like celebrating Festivus, the fake religion declared by George Costanza's nutty dad on "Seinfeld."

The club's Festivus celebration will be Dec. 23. It'll include Festivus pole and "we'll decide on the feats of strength as the night goes on," reports DJ John Townsend, who'll be spinning BritPop all night.

• An expanded version of LA's No Age returns to El Paso for a show at 7 p.m. Jan. 9 at The Percolator, 217 N. Stanton. 

The duo added loops and electronics wizard F. Bermudez to the lineup for the tour that will bring them here.

Promoter Kris Johnson of Thin Wild Sound said the punkers chose the venue themselves. A special stage will be installed for the occasion, he said.

LA's Rene Hell and El Paso's Lasagna, Cholas and Knackery will open.

Tickets are $10 in advance, $13 day of show, on sale at the cafe, All That Music & Video and the Headstand.

• Phil Candelaria of Pony Productions is keeping busy. He's bringing in metal's Oceano for a Jan. 8 show at Mikey's Place in Las Cruces. They'll be joined by For the Fallen Dreams, Upon a Burning Body, the Great Commission, I the Breather and Harsh Words.

It's at 6 p.m. Tickets are $12 in advance, $14 day of show, on sale at All That Music, the Headstand and ticketbully.com.

He''s also bringing For Today, This Is a Calling, Unshackled, From Mountains, Takes South by Storm and Tides of Ruin to the Open Gate Church, 9821 McCombs, at 6 p.m. Jan. 17.

Tickets are $10 in advance, $12 day of, on sale at the same locations.

Plus, he's booked Alesana, Emerson Grey, Those Who've Fallen Silent and From Past Intentions at Club 101 at 6 p.m. Jan. 19.

Those tix are $12 in advance, $14 day of, on sale at the same places.

• Charlie McDonald emails that Canadian singer-songwriter Tia McGraff will return Feb. 18 to La Tierra Cafe. Charlie's band, Applejack, will be a Texas Independence Day show there on March 4.

I'll pass along ticket info when I get it.

• Buy three tickets to blues-rocker Joe Bonamassa's Feb. 24 show at the Plaza and get a fourth one free. Tickets are $27.75, $35.25, $42.75 and $50.25, plus service charges. You can find the four-for-three offer on Ticketmaster.

• Le Tigre's JD Samson has a side project called Men, which will release its debut album, "Talk About Body," on Feb. 1.

The trio will perform here March 30 at M's Lips Lounge.

Concert update: Cirque pulls in big numbers

The folks in UTEP's Special Events office knew it was a big gamble bringing Cirque du Soleil in for eight performances at the Don Haskins Center.

But their gamble paid off.

The venue announced that the eight shows of "Alegria" attracted more than 30,000 people during its Dec. 1-5 run at the Don.

I haven't gotten an exact number from them, but program coordinator Becky Montes said the figure was over 30K and under 31K.

That's an average of about 3,750 a performance.

That's pretty impressive — and more than some UTEP football games have drawn on occasion, I'd wager.

It also may bode well for the Montreal troupe's return in a couple of years and may be a harbinger of things to come when the Plaza Theatre brings "Wicked" in for 16 shows Feb. 1-10, 2012.

It also comes at a time when some smaller shows have been doing very well. The Dec. 7 "Yo Gabba Gabba! Live!: There's  Party in My City" show at the Chavez Theatre sold out. Dave Koz's Dec. 9 show at the Plaza sold out, the eighth time he's done that since 2000 and fifth time in three years.

The third annual "Holiday Movies at the Plaza" drew 2,200 at $5 a ticket, its largest turnout yet.

Hard to tell if this is indicative of the maturing of the market, but it's certainly a good sign.

 

Concert review: Dave Koz gets funky for Christmas

El Paso's love affair with Dave Koz, and his with us, showed no signs of letting up Thursday night as Koz and his latest touring companions lit up the Plaza Theatre like a Christmas tree.

The occasion was the instrumental pop saxman's 13th annual "Dave Koz and Friends: A Smooth Jazz Christmas" tour, the fourth one he's brought to the city he says feels like home and by far the most energetic of the five Koz shows I've seen here.

Of course, for those keeping score, Thursday show marked Koz's ninth performance here since 2000, and the eight to sell-out. At this point I'd say he some kind of local phenomenon, doing something few artists can do in a hard-sell, underexposed market like this one.

"From the heart, you guys never disappoint," he told the crowd near the end of Thursday's 2-hour and 45-minute show (which included an intermission).

The band, which includes returnees Brian Culbertson on keys and trombone and Jonathan Butler on guitar and vocals, launched this year's tour around Thanksgiving. But Koz, who has often called El Paso a second home because of the love he gets consistently here, said he's had a common refrain after shows on this particular tour.

"That crowd was good," he aid, "but they were no El Paso."

Both the band, which included Koz first-timer Candy Dulfer on vocals, alto sax and eye candy, and the crowd were in a generous holiday mood last night.

The headliner, wearing a silver jacket and matching shoes for his entrance, opened with a few low-key bars of "Winter Wonderland" when he stopped, grabbed his saxophone mic and asked, "Are you ready El Paso?" He and the four-piece backing band then launched into an adrenalized arrangement of the holiday classic that pretty much set the tone for the night.

It was pretty much rapid-fire after that, with Butler sounding so silky smooth on "Sleight Ride," Culbertson putting a little extra of that boyish sizzle into "Jingle Bells" and Dulfer blowing a version of "Silver Bells" that would have made Maceo Parker proud.

It was off to the races after that as the headliners, backed by Koz's muscular four-piece band (with new bassist Andre Berry), ripped through one Christmas classic after another. Seven songs in, ol' Santa Koz slowed things down a bit for a somewhat quieter version of his favorite holiday song, "White Christmas," which started slow and sultry, then heated up as he leapt to his feet, holding the note where the phrase "may your holidays be bright" would have been sung for several seconds.

It was vintage Koz.

The Christmas songs became more scarce after that as each artist took turns playing signature hits or songs off their new albums. Butler, a crowd favorite with his soaring, soulful voice and playful personality, scored with a version of "Little Drummer Boy," the last Christmas song of the first half, which drew on his South African roots. Seated on a box-shaped drum, Butler's intense vocal sounded like a cross between Wyclef Jean and John Legend as he pounded out the beat and engaged the audience in a little backup singing.

The show's second half picked up where the first started, with lots of energy, especially on "Funky Rudolph," Culbertson's bottom-shaking rendition of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" that allowed Koz, whose never had the luxury of three horn players on a tour, and Dulfer to honk with those short, taut James Brown-style phrases.

A subdued segment, in which the seated headliners related some of their thoughts on the holiday, including a straightforward reading of "The First Noel" by Culbertson on electric piano, Butler's soulful resurrection of an old spiritual, "Little Jesus Boy," and Dulfer's playful take on "Santa Baby," with a little of Beyonce's "Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)" thrown in for good measure.

Koz proved himself a capable vocalist on a version of Herb Alpert's "This Guy's in Love," from his new "Hello Tomorrow" CD, and later found himself with the unenviable task of following Butler's dynamic and intense reading of "O Holy Night" (marred a little by a generic Christian pop praise section tacked on at the end).

But he pulled it off with the jaunty "Eight Candles," the lone concession to the Jewish saxoponist's own religious holiday, Hanukkah, which ended the night before.

The concert closed out with some blowout renditions of songs from their solo catalogues, including Dulfer referencing her days in Prince's "Musicology" touring band on the Purple's One's "Life 'O' the Party," a get-down and dirty bit of funk-rock that allowed the horns to shine once again and the band, anchored by Jay Williams' muscular drumming, to flex its muscles.

It ended with the entire band huddle arm-in-arm around a mic singing Kenny Loggins' "Celebrate Me Home," a fitting end to a night where the artists must have felt at home. Certainly Butler must have, singling out a woman in the front of the audience who delivered a pot of homemade menudo to his hotel room earlier (he told me later he ate the whole thing, having developed the taste on Saturday morning breakfast outings in his adopted home of Los Angeles).

But it was the diminutive saxophonist, who's never brought the same show here twice, who was the Koz celebre on this night. Once again, he charmed the crowd and delivered another night of top-notch entertainment that drew on the strengths, personalities and energy of his guest stars. Once again, the audience wrapped its collective arms around them and welcomed them as if this was their home.

 

 

Concert update: Slash, Talib Kweli, Rick Trevino, 'All Shook Up,' EP Opera and more

Chalk up another one for Speaking Rock Entertainment Center. It's booked Slash, the former Guns 'N Roses and possibly former Velvet Revolver guitarist.

The top-hatted one will headline a free show there on Jan. 25.

This follows recent bookings of Stone Temple Pilots (Feb. 17), Slaughter (Feb. 25), Skid Row (Feb. 26) and Buckcherry (July 4).

More details when I get 'em.

Meanwhile, Poison frontman and reality TV star Bret Michaels' Nov. 30 show there had a turnout of only 5,000 people, about half what management expected.

Temps were pretty chilly for the outdoor show that night, which was a factor, according to Karl A. Maahs, its general manager.

"For the rest of the winter, I am prepared to have any show indoors or outdoors base on weather," he said, noting he'll move shows inside in the event of rain or "excessive cold."

In other news:

• Talib Kweli, one of the great NYC rappers, will do a DJ set at The Garden on Dec. 30. It's an 8 p.m. show and will include artists doing live painting.

Tickets are $15, on sale at Ticketbully.

• Whiskey Dicks has been heating up with some smaller shows. They've got Texan Rick Trevino, who's worked with Los Super Seven, on Dec. 11. It's a 6 p.m. door and Trevino's expected to go on at 10 p.m. It's an 18-and-older show.

Tickets are $15, on sale at Ticketbully.

The club's also bringing back the Bart Crow Band at 10 p.m. Jan. 14.

Tickets are $10, also on sale at Ticketbully.

And one of the more underrated bands in the country-rock genre, Cowboy Mouth, will headline a show there at 7 p.m. Jan. 25.

Dash Riprock and El Paso's Dirty River Boys will open.

Tickets are $10, also on sale at Ticketbully.

• Tickets for "All Shook Up," the Elvis jukebox musical, will go on sale Dec. 17.

It comes to the Plaza Theatre at 7 p.m. Feb 13 as part of its Broadway series.

Tickets are $25, $35 and $48.50, plus service charges, on sale at 10 a.m. Dec. 17 at the box office, Ticketmaster outlets, ticketmaster.com and 800.745.3000.

The presale will be from 10 a.m. Dec. 13 to 11:59 p.m. Dec. 16. Go to Ticketmaster for details.

• After a one-concert experiment at the Plaza Theatre, El Paso Opera will return to the Chavez Theatre for its March 10 and 12 performances of Puccini's "Madama Butterfly."

The Plaza move was predicated by the El Paso Convention and Visitors Bureau's plans to start renovating the Chavez this year, but that's been postponed at least until next year. Opera officials weren't real happy with the sound in the Plaza (it's great for pop and rock, not so much for classical and opera) so the Chavez move was made.

More of the cast has been put in place for the production, the financially strapped company's first full opera in two years. In addition to the previously announced Shu-Ying Lee, who'll sing the title role, the cast will include Mika Shigematsu as Suzuki, Konstantin Stefanov as Pinkerton, Nicolas Pallesen as Sharpless and Brett Colby as Goro.

Also cast: Luis Orozco (Prince Yamadori); UTEP's Orit Eylon (Kate Pinkerton); Guillermo Flores (The Commissioner); Irena Quijas (The Mother); Helena Yip (The Aunt); Lydia Arenas (The Cousin); Alexis Montoya (Uncle Yakuside); and Billy Gilbert (The Registrar).

• In other theater news, the Spencer Theater in Alto, near Ruidoso, announced that its 2 p.m. Jan. 2 show of "Oklahoma" was canceled. "Logistical issues" were cited.

Go to spencertheater.com for more info.

• Sounds like some of that Plaza Classic Film Festival magic is rubbing off on its little brother, the Holiday Movies at the Plaza.

The third annual edition on Dec. 4-5 attracted a total crowd of 2,200, its best yet. There were four offerings, including "It's a Wonderful Life" and "A Christmas Story."

"It appears year three is the magic number," said Chuck Horak, who helps organize both festivals for the El Paso Community Foundation. "All shows were very solid (much more than last year), so I think we've established a tradition."

• We gave you an early bit of Warped Tour news a few weeks ago when the 2011 itinerary, including a June 29 return to NMSU. I just a press release announcing the first confirmed act for the Cruces date, Detroit's We Came As Romans.

The group's currently touring Australia and New Zealand with Megadeth and has 2011 dates on the Motel 6 Rock Yourself to Sleep tour (with For Today and others) and the spring Scream It Like You Mean It tour of Europe (with The Word Alive and others).

• Zechs Marquise, the experimental band that includes two of Omar Rodriguez-Lopez's brothers, headlines the Dec. 16 "How the Zechs Marquise Stole Christmas" show at Peoria.

It's an 8 p.m. show, 18 and over and $10 at the door.

Also performing: Thieves of Always (another Rodriguez-Lopez offshoot), Smooth Talking Mothers and With All Due Respect.

Speaking of Thieves of Always, they'll be among the band playing "Christmas Inked," a tattoo contest at 7 p.m. Dec. 23 at Peoria. Best ink gets $100.

Amy Nicoletto of LA Ink will be the guest judge. It's $5 to enter.

Also performing: DJ Surreal, DJ Timz and the Black Hour.

Tickets are $15 at the door, or $10 with a donation of canned food, toy or clothing.

• Denver rapper Melissa Lujan headlines a hip-hop show at 8 p.m. Dec. 16 at Club 101. Also performing: Talksick, Brown Boy, Aubrey Mikel and Teejay-Gin. It's an 18-and-over show, tickets are $10 at the door.

• Frontera Bugalu will shake up some holiday fun with a night of rocked out cumbias and more at 8 p.m. Dec. 17 at Republic. It's 18-and-over. Tix are $10 at the door.