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Event update: 'Cats,' 'Great Russian Nutcracker,' Border Theatre, Lynx, Plaza Classic and more

It's hard to believe that Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Cats" is 30 years old and still purring along. It's hard more than nine lives and plenty of "Memory."

Jam Theatricals is routing the North American tour here for shows June 6-7 at the Plaza Theatre, an extension of the Broadway series its produces with the historic theater.

Tickets go on sale April 15. I don't have prices yet, but tickets for runs in Corpus Christi and Houston ranged from about $20 to $60.

On to other show news (and such):

• It's also hard to believe that Christmas was more than three months ago. Certainly the folk with the Moscow Ballet aren't looking back. They're coming back for the 11th year with their popular "Great Russian Nutcracker."

It returns to the Plaza Theatre at 4 and 8 p.m. Dec. 23. 

This cast will include Alexandra Elagina and Andre Ustimov as Masha and the Nutcracker Prince. It will be their second year in the roles, but first in the Western tour cast after a 2010 run in the Eastern tour coast.

Tickets are $27.50 and $68, plus service charges, and go on sale at 10 a.m. April 1 at the box office, Ticketmaster outlets, ticketmaster.com, nutcracker.com and 800.745.3000.

• Border Theatre rolls out its latest production this weekend. "Ugly Apples," which consists of two one-act plays about the dynamics of two deteriorating relationships, will be performed at 8 p.m. April 1-3 and 8-10 at the Glasbox, 1500 Texas (the entrance is on Langtry).

Company founder Austin Savage wrote and acts in "Kitten Kill Lion," about a neurotic guy named Syd, whose relationship with Serena (APT Movement co-founder Megan Aizpuro) is built on lies and deceit. It's directed by Border Theatre veteran Ryan Perry.

Dr. Joel Murray, head of UTEP's theater department, wrote "Forever Changes," about a couple (APT co-founder Music Adame and company newcomer Gabriel Talamantes) that resorts to drastic measures after their relationship goes cold. Savage, who is a UTEP theater grad, directs.

"The plays are staged back-to-back in the Glasbox Gallery with the action thrust out into the audience," Savage said in an email.

There will be a reception before each show and live music after. The Federal Courthouse Bar & Grill is doing the catering.

Tickets are a cheap $7, on sale at the door and ticketbully.com.

Go to bordertheatre.org or call 412.5283 if you want to know more.

• I produce a full page of arts coverage every Sunday in the Times' feature section (Living). I try to use that space to preview major events and other arts news in a timely manner. But sometimes, things fall through the cracks. Last Sunday, I left out the opening reception for the new exhibit at Lynx Exhibits' Artisan Gallery.

The show is called "Hidden Treasures" and it opens March 31 with a reception from 5-7 p.m. at the gallery inside the large Lynx Exhibits home at 300 W. San Antonio.

It features six artists, all of whom contributed two works that ponder the notion of treasure, a nice bit of co-promotion with Lynx's current interactive show, "Treasure!," which deals with gold prospecting, buried treasure, undersea finds and more.

Both shows will be up through May 31. Artists in the show are Elizabeth Genova, George Gonzalez, Candy Mayer, James Murphy (aka blues musician Austin Jimmy Murphy, aka El Paso Museum of History development director Jim Murphy), Jessica Pizana and Ana Karina Rodriguez.

Call 533.4330 or go to lynxexhibits.com for more info.

• Spent some time at last Saturday's Downtown KidsPalooza, which is put on by the El Paso Symphony Orchestra and involved about two dozen local arts and cultural organizations. The attendance not only exceeded expectations — 20,000-plus (El Paso Museum of Art Director Michael A. Tomor said they had 3,500 people pass through their doors) — but it provided one of those moments that makes me feel very good about the direction the arts in this town are going.

It was during the second performance of Circurious, a small group of acrobats, jugglers and dancers who staged four shows in the Arts Festival Plaza between the art museum and Plaza Theatre. I stood atop the steps at the very back of the audience area. It was packed. It reminded me of that night at the second Plaza Classic Film Festival when the plaza was jammed with people getting funky with Fungi Mungle, then letting it all hangout for "The Rocky Horror Picture Show."

Of course, these were families with little kids, balloons, strollers (you should have seen the stroller parking lot inside the Plaza Theatre during the symphony's performance of the "Sleeping Beauty" ballet), not a bunch of slightly besotted adults. What connected those two events was the positive vibe that filled the air. Very cool.

• Speaking of the Plaza Classic Film Festival, notice that there's an iconic image of Charlton Heston from "The Ten Commandments" on the plazaclassic.com home page. Expect a big announcement Monday that the film will be part of the fourth festival Aug. 4-14. Festival passes are now on sale for $200.

• PCFF Artistic Director Charles Horak also runs the Film Salon, a free film series that highlights certain actors and filmmakers. The last installment of its Frank Capra series will be "Meet John Doe" (1941),  starring Gary Cooper as a down-and-out baseball player hired to play a fictional folk hero concocted by newspaper writer Barbara Stanwyck.

It will be shown at 7:30 p.m. April 2 at Trinity-First United Methodist Church, 801 N. Mesa.

Go to filmsalon.org.

• El Paso native and "The Dry Land" writer-director Ryan Piers Williams will help lead a free workshop for the Texas Monthly-Austin Film Festival "Where I'm From" short film competition.

The workshop will be at 5 p.m. April 2 at the UTEP Union Cinema, in the UTEP Union Building.

The competition is open to Texans and those with roots in the state. The films should be no longer than 10 minutes and should offer some perspective on how the state has influenced them.

Semi-finalists will be posted on Texas Monthly's website. Finalists will be shown during the 18th annual Austin Film Festival's shorts program. The festival runs Oct. 20-27.

Go to texasmonthly.com/2011filmcontest for details.

• Sofia Coppola's "Somewhere" never made it into commercial theaters, criminal when you consider her short but impressive track record ("Lost in Translation," for example). 

But it will finally get a showing here at 7 p.m. April 1-2 at the UTEP Union Cinema, part of UTEP's Cinema Novo series.

Tickets are $2, $1 for UTEP students, faculty and staff, on sale at the door.

• "Casino Jack," starring Kevin Spacey as convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff, returns to the area April 1-7 at the Fountain Theatre in Mesilla. You may recall that the film, which chronicles Abramoff's excesses and fraudulent practices, includes a couple of references to El Paso's Tigua Indians and their Speaking Rock Casino. The Tiguas were among Abramoff's victims.

Carlos Hisa, vice president of the Tiguas' Ysleta del Sur Pueblo tribal council and an Abramoff critic, will speak before the April 4 showing at 7:30 p.m. at the Fountain, 2469 Calle de Guadalupe.

Screenings are at 7:30 p.m. daily, 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Sundays. Tickets are $5-$7.

Speaking of the Fountain, it's bringing in Charles Ferguson's Academy Award-winning 2010 documentary "Inside Job," which is narrated by Matt Damon and chronicles the people, events and greed that led to the 2008 global financial crisis. It will run April 8-14.

• Jazzman Billy Townes and producer Mark Love, the guys who made the two "Border Lords" movies, will be auditioning adult couples for a new documentary, "20 Couples," they're planning to make here and in Phoenix.

Auditions will be at 10 a.m. April 2 at 11450 Rojas, Suite D20.

• A group of pet-lovers calling itself the Hot PAWtooties will have auditions at 5:30, 6:30 and 7:30 p.m. April 5-6 at the O'Rourke Recreation Center, 701 Montana, for a "Rocky Horror Picture Show" shadow cast, where actors play out the scenes as the movie is shown on a screen.

They are planning to show the movie once a month beginning in May. It's a fundraiser for Pets Alive-El Paso, which provides spay and neutering services at low cost.

Interested? Email hotpawtooties@gmail.com or find 'em on Facebook.

• Access France and Eden Enterprises are teaming to bring French singer-songwriter Pierre Donore to the Chamizal National Memorial Theater at 7 p.m. May 8.

He's touring in support of last year's "Je Viens a Toi" CD.

Tickets are $5 for students with ID, $20 GA, on sale at 875.1696 or at the door (box office opens at 6 p.m.

Check him out at myspace.com/donore or Facebook.

• Tickets for that April 19 Pato Banton reggae rock out at 6 Strings are $7 in advance, $10 day of show, on sale at ticketbully.com.

Radio La Chusma, Blaze the Nation and DJ SystemAddict will open the 21 and older show.

• Mexican ska/metal band Sekta Core will play Republic, 200 Anthony (Union Plaza), at 8 p.m. April 24.

El Paso's Rusty Bishops, La Chapuza and Fixed Idea will open.

Tickets are $10 in advance, $12 at the door, on sale at the Headstand.

• Tickets are now on sale for El Paso Opera's "The Desert Song," which will be performed dinner theater style at Ardovino's Desert Crossing at 7 p.m. June 8, 10 and 12.

It's an operetta by Sigmund Romberg. Originally set in World War I Algeria, it's been retooled as an operetta about El Paso and Juarez during the Mexican Revolution. EPO's David Grabarkewitz, always an inventive talent, rewrote the dialogue and is using a variety of operatic styles, including the Spanish zarzuela, to tell the story.

It's part of EPO's Opera on the Edge series and will feature soprano Carmen Diaz Walker, who teaches voice at UTEP, and members of the opera's young artists program.

Tickets are $55 and $69, available by calling 581.5534.

• The La Vina Winery's Spring Wine Festival returns April 30-1. In addition to the 20 wines you can sample, you also can get a taste of some local jazz and blues music.

Saxman Mike Hamilton, PT & the Cruisers and the Kat Crosby Band play April 30, followed by Hamilton, Big Easy and Frank Zona and Urban Edge on May 1.

Festival hours are noon-7 p.m. Admission is $15 for adults and includes a souvenir glass. It's $5 for kids 12-20, free for under 12.

Go to lavinawinery.com for more of the sweet stuff.

• Chicago celtic punkers Flatfoot 56 and Roger Miret and the Disasters (fronted by the Agnostic Front lead singer) play M's Lips Lounge, 510 N. Stanton, at 7 p.m. April 6.

Tickets are $10 at the club.

 

 

Concert update: Paula Poundstone, Gary Sinise, Camilo Sesto, Mana and more

Comedian Paula Poundstone will headline the Border AIDS Partnership's Spotlight 2011 concert.

The show, billed as a "celebration of life," will be at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 13 at the Plaza Theatre.

Tickets are $32.50, plus service charges, on sale at the box office, Ticketmaster outlets, ticketmaster.com and 800.745.3000.

In other concert news:

•  "CSI: New York" star Gary Sinise and the Lt. Dan Band will perform a free concert for military personnel and their families at 7 p.m. April 15 at Biggs Park.

It's open to those with military ID only.

The band is named for Lt. Dan Taylor, the legless Vietnam vet Sinise played in 1994's "Forrest Gump," a role for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Sinise, a founder of Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre, started the 12-member band in 2004, the same year "CSI: New York" debuted on CBS. The band, which includes fellow actor Kimo Williams on lead guitar and vocals, plays military installations and special events.

The group also raises money for Operation Iraqi Child, a charity the actor-bassist started, the USO and a memorial to living military vets with disabilities.

• Spanish singer Camilo Sesto will bring his farewell tour to the Coliseum at 8:30 p.m. May 21.

Sesto, 63, was huge in Latin America and Spain in the 1970s, thanks to a run of romantic hits including "El Amor de Mi Vida" and "Melina," which he'll perform on the American leg of his tour, which runs May 14-29.

Angelica Carrasco will open the show.

Tickets are $49.50, $79.50, $99.50 and $125, plus service charges, on sale at the box office, Ticketmaster outlets, ticketmaster.com and 800.745.3000.

• The Conjunto Primavera show April 30 at the Coliseum will include opening sets by Pancho Barraza, Lupillo Rivera, Audaz de la Sierra and El Paso's La Imperial Sonora.

Tickets for the show are $37.50, plus service charges, on sale at the box, Ticketmaster and 800.745.3000.

April 30 is turning into a busy day around here, with the Neon Desert Music Festival that day in and around Cleveland Square Park (Omar Rodriguez Lopez Band, Kinky, CSS and Los Amigos Invisibles are among the headliners) and rapper  Waka Flocka Flame that day at Cohen Stadium.

• Mexican rockers Fobia will headline a show at 7 p.m. April 17 at Club 101.

El Paso's Low Luster League will open.

Tickets are $25 through March 31, $35 after, $45 VIP, on sale at All That Music & Video, Hommework and eptickets.com.

• A publicist tells me that Mexican rock superstars Mana will return to the Coliseum in March 2012. She didn't have an exact date.

The band's first album in five years, "Drama y Luz," comes out April 12. New single "Lluvia Al Corazon," was released March 14.

• A bunch of area tribute bands will gather for Thunder in the Canyon, an all-day concert starting at 12 p.m. May 28 at McKelligon Canyon.

Bands include Aeromyth, Cowboys From Hell Paso (Pantera), Alive in Chains, American Band (Grand Funk Railroad), plus the Sixth and Brother Strange.

Tickets are $20 on sale April 1 at the Plaza Theatre box office, Ticketmaster outlets, ticketmaster.com and 800.745.3000.

 

 

 

Concert update: Alfresco! Fridays sked, Dan Lambert, Azucar, Rod Crosby and more

Local Latin jazz vets Azucar will kick off this year's 9th annual edition of Alfresco! Fridays, the free concert series in the Arts Festival Plaza.

Friday's opening is the first of 23 weeks of the series, the same number of shows as last year's expanded version, but spread over a longer period of time. The series opens April 1 and ends Sept. 30, a little more than two weeks longer than last year.

You may recall last year's series opened six weeks earlier than normal to accommodate the throngs of bowlers and their buddies and families during the USBC Women's Championship at the convention center. It was a success, with about 30,000 people attending the free concerts.

This year's series will feature some well-known local bands, including Radio La Chusma and Frontera Bugalu, but unlike last year no bands will perform more than once.

Here's a rundown:

April 1: Azucar (Latin jazz)

April 8: Sangre Gitana (flamenco)

April 15: Austin Jimmy Murphy and the Blues Alliance

April 22: Frontera Bugalu (new cumbia)

April 29: La Explosion (cumbia)

May 13: La Imperial Sonora (tropical/cumbia)

May 20: PT & The Cruisers (classic rock/pop)

May 27: Altarmotive (alt rock)

June 3: Brown Betty (classic rock)

June 10: New Breed Jazz Alliance

June 17: Asi Band (Tejano)

June 24: Radio La Chusma (border reggae)

July 08: King Octopus (bilingual rock)

July 15: Locomotion (pop/Latin variety)

July 22: Border City Band (Motown/Latin)

July 29: Dusty Low (border country)

Aug. 19: Sobredosis del Sabor (salsa)

Aug. 26: Red City Blue (alt rock)

Sept. 2: Chicago Inspiration (Chicago tribute)

Sept. 9: Mariachi Raices de America

Sept. 16: Captain Radio (classic rock)

Sept. 23: Aztec Zodiac (Latin funk)

Sept. 30: Fungi Mungle (disco/funk)

The series will skip certain weeks to accommodate other events, including the May 6-7 Champagne Festival (Mat Kearney and Parachute will headline), which moves from Grace Gardens to the Arts Festival Plaza this year, the July 1-2 KLAQ Downtown Streetfest (Hinder and Bachman and Turner will headline) and the Aug. 4-14 Plaza Classic Film Festival, which will have outdoor concerts on those weekends.

Shows run from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Food and beverages, including beer, will be available on the premises.

Go to alfrescofridays.com for more info.

In other local talent news:

• Dan Lambert and Laura Tate Goldman's tribute to the music of Carole King has sold out.

It's a dinner show on March 31 at the Magic Pan, where the guitarist frequently performs.

Lambert hasn't worked with vocalists in years, but says he decided to do so after meeting Goldman a few months ago.

"We worked up a bunch of songs, then added the rest of the band so this gig will be the debut of that band, plus the first gig of us doing this material," says Dan, who'll be backed by Sleepercar bassist Greg Gonzalez and Lambert's Double Drum Trio (percussionists Ricardo Amaya and Erik Hickerson).

"This looks like it will be the first of many gigs either accompanying Laura at bigger performances, or having her as part of the band at some of our jobs," Lambert says. "She's fun to play with and man can she sing."

Lambert, who recently released the instrumental "Double Drum Trio" CD, recorded at Sonic Ranch, is thinking about doing more special shows at the Pan in the future, though he's not sure what the next concept will be.

"It needs to be different every time — different material, change the band around, different ways to keep it fresh and interesting," he says, adding he'd like to do some small theater shows, too.

• Ballroom dancers from Shundo Dance Studio will foxtrot, quickstep and more to the music of action, classic, romantic, dramatic, children's and sci-fi films for its "Gotta Dance — Hollywood!" concert at 7 p.m. April 2 at the Chamizal National Memorial Theater.

Tickets are $12 for children, military and seniors, $15 for adults, on sale at the studio, 532.2043.

• Speaking of Azucar, the band will headline a tribute to Eydie Gorme and Trio Los Panchos, who recorded a series of best-selling albums with her in the '60s.

The dinner concert will be at 7 p.m. May 7 at Sunland Park Racetrack and Casino.

Tickets are $30, including dinner, on sale at All That Music & Video, or by calling 594.9900. For tables of eight, call 471.0849.

Tickets will be on sale through May 4.

• Jazz pianists Billy Townes and Ruben Gutierrez will due their dual pianos thing at 9 p.m. April 1 at the Surf Club. They'll be joined by bassist Jim Foster and drummer Demetrius Williams.

• Local rock icon Rod Crosby will be honored at "Let the Good Times Roll," the 10th annual Concierto de las Americas at 2 p.m. April 15 at the Chamizal National Memorial Theater.

Crosby, who leads the '60s rock band the Intruders, will be acknowledged for his contributions to local rock music over the past 50 years.

• PT & the Cruisers, who play Alfresco on May 20, will play a dinner show at 7 p.m. April 16 at the new La Hacienda Mexican Grill, 9515 Gateway West. Dinner's at 7, with shows at 8 and 9 p.m.

Tickets are $25, including meal. Call 626.5298 for reservations.

• To hype the April 8 Rogue Warrior Championship Cage Fight at the Coliseum, promoter Ramiro "Ram" Guzman is staging a concert at 6 p.m. April 6 at Fort Bliss' Freedom Crossing mall. Local band Bash, Austin's Reagan Browne and local rapper Paul Novoa will perform.

Guzman, who promoters the Tejano Legends concerts, also has booked local fave Little Joe Hernandez to sing the national anthem at the battle on April 8.

 

 

Taking Back Sunday posts 'El Paso' video online

El Paso must have made an impression on Taking Back Sunday.

The band has posted a new video of a song called "El Paso" on its website, which  singer Adam Lazzara has described as "probably the heaviest rock song we've ever written."

"It's a total motorcycle-raging-down-the-highway type of song," he told spin.com last October.

The song doesn't appear to be about the Sun City, but may be in homage to the time the group spent in the area last spring, including a trip to Jim Ward's Hope and Anchor bar and a Deftones show at Club 101.

"You'll never give what you get," Lazzara shouts angrily over roiling guitars, pounding bass and explosive drums.

The video features  the song's lyrics, flashed one at a time in various type fonts, with Tweets from fans and a few pictures of the band.

"El Paso," which was posted on takingbacksunday.com on March 28, is one of 11 songs expected to be on their new, as yet-untitled album, due this summer.

An earlier post said the new album, which was not recorded here, is being mastered.

A European tour will start in May, followed, presumably, by a U.S. tour.

Lazarra, guitarist Ernie Reyes and drummer Mark O'Connell reunited last year with guitarist John Nolan and bassist Shaun Cooper after nearly eight years apart. The lineup was featured on the band's first album, "Tell All Your Friends," released in 2002.

TBS went on to bigger success, and a major-label deal with Warner Bros. Records, with other musicians. Nolan and Cooper started Straylight Run.

The revitalized lineup agreed to meet at an out-of-the-way place last spring — Sonic Ranch in Tornillo, where Hanson, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Conor Oberst and Mudvayne have recorded recent albums — to see if the reunion would work and maybe write some songs.

They assembled more than 20 songs, Lazzara told the El Paso Times during the sessions, including, presumably, "El Paso." 

"We just wanted to be guys and reconnect with that, " Lazzara said in an April 26 interview from the studio, where the band worked from mid- to late April.

"There's something magic about this place. The work we've gotten don here, (given) the history of the band, it would have taken seven to eight months to get that done."

Lazzara recently told England's nme.com that "once we all started hanging out and writing and playing music together again, it felt like we had got back on track."

 

Concert update: Cruces Warped lineup confirmed, stage by stage

Warped and NMSU officials have released the full list of bands, and the stages on which they'll be appearing, when the  punk rock festival on wheels returns to the NMSU Practice Field at 11 a.m. June 29.

New additions include Attack Attack!, 3OH!3 and Asking Alexandria, who just played Club 101 on March 21.

For the third straight year, the NMSU show will feature an eighth stage devoted to area bands, something tour owner Kevin Lyman OK'd after Bobbie Welch, booking and marketing coordinator for NMSU special events, requested.

 

The presale ends March 31 (go to vanswarpedtour.com). Tickets are $34 in advance, $36 day of show, on sale at 10 a.m. April 1 at the Pan Am box office, Ticketmaster outlets, ticketmaster.com and 800.745.3000.

Here's the stage-by-stage rundown. Set times will be determined day of show.

Teggart Stage: August Burns Red; Asking Alexandria; The Devil Wears Prada; A Day to Remember; Attack Attack!; 3OH!3; Pepper; Less Than Jake; and Against Me!

Altec Lansing Stage: Black Veil Brides; Of Mice and Men; Woe, Is Me; Winds of Plague; The Word Alive; Enter Shikar;, Miss May I; We Came As Romans; the Acacia Strain; Set Your Goals.

AP/Advent Stage: Lionize; Big D and the Kids Table; the Expendables; the Aggrolites; Simple Plan; Lucero; the Ready Set; Unwritten Law; and Street Dogs.

Glamour Kills Stage: Go Radio; the Wonder Years; I Set My Friends on Fire; Moving Mountains; the Dangerous Summer; Every Avenue; Dance Gavin Dance; Relient K; and Hellogoodbye.

Skullcandy Stage: Blood on the Dance Floor; Big Chocolate; Passafire; Bad Rabbits; MC Lars with Weerd Science; Grieves with Budo; Illscarlett; Stephen Jerzak; Big B; and Foxy Shazam.

Ernie Ball Stage: Terrible Things; There for Tomorrow; Cold Forty Three; Madina Lake; A Skylit Drive; and Freshman 15.

Kevin Says Stage: the Sheds, the Dance  Party, Sharkes, the Exposed, New Years Day, It Boys!, Places & Numbers, Vonnegutt, Good Guys in Black, Larry and His Flask, the Bots and Shut Up and Deal.

 

 

Concert review: Reba steals the show on a record-setting night

George Strait is an anomaly in modern country music, a died-in-the-wool traditionalist and a middle-aged veteran who continues to rack up hits in a field increasingly dominated by twangy pop acts.

He's also, in his 30th year as a recording artist, one of the top box-office draws in the field, not to mention a savvy businessman. They don't call him the King of Country for nothing.

One thing he is not is exciting, at least not in concert. So when he decided to team up last year for concerts with country's queen, Reba McEntire, his middle-aged contemporary and one of the most dynamic performers in country music, you had to wonder how or if it would work.

It worked very well bottom line-wise. Their 2010 tour was the top-grossing country tour of the year (Kenny Chesney took the year off) and there's been no letup on the 2011 leg of their tour. It set a new Pan Am Center attendance record Friday, which was proclaimed George Strait and Reba McEntire Day by New Mexico's governor. The turnout of 13,044 broke the previous house record of 12,560 set by Elton John in 2005.

Records are nice, but how did this matchup work on the stage?

Well, pretty much like you'd expect over the course of a 4.5-hour show that started strong with Lee Ann Womack's impressive half-hour set, peaked with McEntire's powerful 90-minute performance but flagged in the middle of Strait's too-long 2-hour performance to close the show.

Even though he's the most popular of them, Strait is not exactly a dynamic performer. His set was packed with plenty of hits, from his first, 1981's "Unwound," near show's end to his most recent, 2009's "Twang," which opened his show at 9:30 p.m.

Strait served up a balanced mix of current, middle and early career hits, with the cowboy breakup song "I Can Still Make Cheyenne," the sweetly ironic "Wrapped," fan favorite "Check Yes Or No," the always fresh rodeo travelogue "Amarillo By Morning" and 2008's reflective, autobiographical "Troubadour" standing out.

The problem with Strait's performances typically — and this has been true every time I've seen him over about a 20-year period — is their sameness. From start to finish, everything sounds the same because he sings everything the same way, with no highs or lows, emotional peaks or valleys built in and no real give-and-take with his band.

Strait's no showman, that's no secret, but he could benefit from a little more variation in his act. He's got this great band, the 11-member Ace in the Hole band, that is so steeped in country's traditions but so underused in concert. He's also got a pleasant tenor voice, which he never varies from song to song, odd for a guy who sings so many stories.

The most colorful thing about Friday's show were the red duds he, his band, crew and openers wore as part of Red Shirt Fridays, a grassroots effort to honor the men and women of the American military.

Strait doesn't talk much to the crowd, which is his way, but he doesn't really interact much with it either — or his band. There are different flavors among the types of songs he sings  — two-steppin' swing, cry-in-your-beer ballads, cowboy and rodeo-inspired story songs and the occasionally dramatic number — but he seldom brought out the dynamics of many of those songs.

It has the effect of a live jukebox after about an hour. But Strait's fans are an enthusiastically loyal legion, and they love him just the way he is. Strait makes great, tradition-drenched, radio-friendly records, but does nothing to embellish or put meat on them live. He rarely goes with the moment.

The only thing he varied was his position on the square stage, which was placed  in the middle of the arena floor. He'd sing two songs at a time at each of its four corners so no one side of the stage got more face time than another. But even that got predictable after a couple of trips around the stage, in a watching-paint-dry sort of way.

Not so with McEntire. She's more of a painter, a real dynamo, which is part of the problem with this pairing. She's a tough act to follow, especially for an act of Strait's strictly confined ilk.

The woman knows how to sell a song, rock a crowd and work a camera, of which there were plenty positioned around the arena for a sharp video setup, with four large and four small screens over the stage, designed to make an arena show as intimate as possible. Four remote controlled cameras, mounted on towers on each side of the stage, allowed for screen-filling closeups of all three performers.

McEntire always has had an impressive talent for alchemizing all that is good about traditional country — the heartbreak, the heartfelt love, the heart-on-the-sleeve sentimentality — with a strong, female perspective and heightened sense of theatricality. Where Strait merely sings about cowboys and broken hearts and being in love, McEntire makes you believe it. He's comfortable enough in front of a camera, but he doesn't work it the way she does.

Strait, in his customary black hat, cowboy shirt, jeans and boots, may have used state-of-the-art video to project to all corners of the arena, but McEntire used it like another weapon in her arsenal, casting a knowing look at the immature male she chides in a countryfied version of Beyonce's "If I Were a Boy," getting tearful (for real, it appeared) at the end of the ballad "When You Have a Child," and illustrating the inner conflict of a woman trapped in a dying marriage in "Is There Life Out There."

Looking fit in a sleeveless black t-shirt from her fashion line, black jeans and boots, McEntire worked the crowd and worked her nine-member band. She also worked a set list that spanned most of her more than 30-year career, one highlight being a medley of No. 1 hits — "Somebody Should Leave," "For My Broken Heart" and "Does He Love You" — smartly sequenced to tell a story of dissatisfaction, dissolution and distrust. It was topped by an appropriately catty duet with opener Womack on "Does He Love You," a song McEntire recorded with Linda Davis, better known these days as the mother of Lady Antebellum's Hillary Scott.

Her other surprise guest, "Reba" co-star Melissa Peterman (note: name is corrected)  injected some goofy humor into the proceedings, bursting out onstage, beer in hand, in an NMSU Aggies baseball cap and a torn George Strait t-shirt festooned with red hearts. Patterson recreated her naive neighbor persona from "Reba" while the show's namesake adopted the same mock-annoyed quality of her TV show character in a fun but slightly long runup to their duet of the show's theme song, "I'm a Survivor."

It preceded an encore of "Fancy" in which McEntire, decked out in a sequined red dress, made her entrance in a miniature reproduction of a yellow cab.

Traffic slow-downs on I-10 and the University Avenue exit from I-25 delayed my arrival at the arena, meaning Womack, an overlooked and underappreciated tradition-based talent, hit the stage about the time I stepped inside the arena. I got my customary concert dinner of a hot dog and a Coke, listened to most of her set on the concourse and caught the last three songs, including a rousing performance of her signature hit "I Hope You Dance" from my assigned seat.

It's a heck of a bill on paper, and it's no surprise these two superstars and their perfectly matched opening act set a new attendance record at the old arena. It's also no surprise that McEntire's performance was more compelling and layered than the headliner's. That's just how they roll. Too bad she didn't go on last.

 

And for a little

Border Roots' Alvarado made his mark on El Paso

Mark Moses Alvarado didn’t expect to set down roots when he moved here in 1994. But he’ll be leaving some when he moves away this week.

Alvarado resigned as neighborhood services coordinator for the city of El Paso to become executive director of the PUEBLO Action Fund, a nonprofit advocacy group for low-income families in his hometown of Santa Barbara. 

He starts the new job Monday. But it’s his other gig — as frontman of Border Roots — that will leave an indelible mark on local music.

Alvarado, 46, is the founder of the Chicano reggae collective, which combines the steady rhythms and political overtones of Jamaican reggae with Latin influences and lyrics about issues particular to la frontera.

“What separates us really is we’re talking about the border issues, immigration and Chicano identity and things that people weren’t accustomed to hearing in music,” Alvarado said.

It was a new sound for El Paso when the singer and guitarist started Border Roots in the late ‘90s, backed by a series of musicians that reads like a who’s who of local music, including jazz musicians Billy Townes and Marty Olivas, Aztec Zodiac’s Adrian Esparza and members of Radio La Chusma.

Alvarado’s roots branched out into other culturally conscious acts, like La Chusma, which fuses rock, reggae and Latin music with culturally aware lyrics, the politically conscious Fuga! and its cumbia-driven successor, Frontera Bugalu.

“They tell me to this day that I was the one that motivated or at least inspired them to do their thing, too, and not be confined to what people were doing before,” he said proudly.

It was a sound Alvarado honed in Santa Barbara, where he hosted a reggae radio show in college and started a band, Soul Force, when like neo-swing revivalists Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and rockers Dishwalla and Toad the Wet Sprocket were growing up in that city’s clubs.

Soul Force opened for Toots and the Maytals and Pato Banton, but flamed out, leaving Alvarado disillusioned. His mother is from El Paso, so he enrolled at UTEP in 1994, where he indulged the activist roots that lead to his day job helping connect low-income residents to needed resources.

Alvarado didn’t play music for a few years, but “turned a few heads” at a benefit for the now-defunct Bridge Center for Contemporary Arts. He started Border Roots soon after and quickly created a buzz.

“When we broke out, people were like, ‘This is so cool. This is different. This is what El Paso needs,’” he recalled.

Alvarado’s last Border Roots gig was on St. Patrick’s Day, but he’ll keep making music. He recently recorded a song with Quino of Big Mountain (they did the reggae version of Peter Frampton’s “Baby, I Love Your Way”). He also hopes to launch a Chicano reggae website.

Even his new employers have gotten into the act. “The board said, ‘We hope you can continue to play music for us,’” he said with a laugh.

Alvarado will be recognized at the March 29 City Council meeting. Coworkers will toast him with a reception from 2:30-4 p.m. March 31 on the 8th floor of City Hall. Fox 92.3’s Mike Guerrero will host a farewell party at 6 p.m. March 31 at the Pershing Inn.

Alvarado leaves the Sun City with his wife, teacher and artist Anna Pilhoefer, and their dance-loving 8-year-old, Sofia, knowing he made a difference on two fronts. To paraphrase Bob Marley, he plans to keep on pushing. 

“I hope I can take some of what I’ve learned here and help people move forward,” he said. “It’s all about moving forward.”

 

 

Concert update: George-Reba record and recognition, Alfresco!, State Line, 'Superman' and more

Friday's George Strait-Reba McEntire concert at NMSU's Pan Am Center will set a house record attendance of 13,044, according to Bobbie Welch, booking and marketing coordinator for NMSU's special events office.

They broke the record of 12,560 set by Elton John on Feb. 12, 2000 

NM Gov. Susana Martinez, an El Paso native and former Las Crucen, has declared Friday to be "George Strait and Reba McEntire Day" in the state in "honor of their frequent and record-breaking appearances throughout the state of New Mexico, as well as all of their combined personal achievements in the music industry," the proclamation reads.

They've drawn more than 150,000 between them at Pan Am dating back to 1989. Friday's show sold out in less than 48 hours.

In other event news:

• Local Latin jazz band Azucar will open the ninth annual Alfresco! Fridays series April 1 in the Arts Festival Plaza.

It was expanded to April last year to give the women bowlers from the USBC tournament something to do downtown. It went over well, so the EP Convention and Visitors Bureau decided to extend it a week more this year.

The series, which features a variety of music by local bands such as Fungi Mungle, Radio La Chusma and La Imperial Sonora, will run April 1-Sept. 30 in the plaza between the El Paso Museum of Art and the Plaza Theatre.

Music starts at 5:30 p.m. Beer, alcohol and some food items will be for sale.

The full schedule hasn't been announced yet, but you can monitor this blog, our Friday Tiempo section or alfrescofridays.com.

• Speaking of freebie, the State Line's free, outdoor music series has firmed up eight of its concerts. We've already told you about El Paso's Dirty River Boys opening this year's run on April 20, and that Cory Morrow will be there May 25.

Other confirmed acts: El Paso's Frontera Bugalu, April 27;  Radio La Chusma, May 4; Roger Creager, June 15; Emory Quinn, Aug. 17; Jason Boland, Aug. 24; and Radio La Chusma to close out the series Aug. 31.

Shows start at 8 p.m. The restaurant chain asks you bring a canned food donation for the West Texas Food Bank.

• A panel of experts will discuss education after Friday's screening of the documentary "Waiting for Superman" at 7 p.m. in the UTEP Union Cinema, part of the Cinema Novo series. The film also will be shown Saturday.

"Superman" is about a lottery to get into a private school that produces results. It's a controversial film that has created dialogue about the value of public vs. private edudation, charter schools, etc.

Panelists will be Dr. Julio Noboa, an assistant professor of social studies education at UTEP; Brenda Parada, editor of the Texas State Teachers Association Student Program; Ross Moore, executive vice president of the local American Federation of Teachers chapter and a teacher at Andress HS; and Dr. Kathleen A. Staudt, a UTEP political science prof.

Tickets are $2, $1 for UTEP faculty, staff and students.

 

 

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Concert update: Beto Cuevas talks new album, La Ley, missing Juarez

Chilean rocker Beto Cuevas is taking a break from recording his second album to play free, outdoor shows at 9 p.m. March 25-26 at the Speaking Rock Entertainment Center.

Cuevas, a longtime local favorite, was born in Santiago, Chile on Sept. 12, 1967 during Augusto Pinochet’s brutal dictatorship. He grew up in Montreal and now lives in Los Angeles, where’s working on his new, as yet untitled  album, due this summer. He may play some of the new songs at Speaking Rock.

He took a break from recording to answer a few questions about the album and La Ley, the pioneering Chilean rock band he fronted in the 1980s and ‘90s.

Here are some highlights:

• Making the new album: “I’ve been working on these songs for, I would say, on and off over a year and now I’ve started recording a lot of material. I have a trip to Miami to see my record executive and manager in a few weeks from now and I’ll show them about five or six songs. I’m definitely working hard on this album to have it ready for June or July.”

• The new songs: “The title is yet unknown, but it’s more, not optimistic, I don’t like to do happy music. I’m more drawn to the melancholic tunes (his first solo about followed the breakup of his marriage), but it’s definitely more positive than the songs on the first album, which was a bit more dark, due to the situation. Now I’m more driven to focus everything in my heart and open up hearts to my music.”

• Working with son Diego: “I tried. He’s still a teenager (18). I’ve got to consider that. I’m sure we’ll do things in the future. That will be very nice. I tried getting him into the process of creation. He comes up with really good musical ideas, good guitar licks sometimes, that I could use to start a song, but he doesn’t have yet the continuity of getting to work and staying there until you finish something. Obviously, I don’t want to push him like a sergeant ... then music doesn’t become fun any more. The whole premise for me, at least, is it’s got to be fun from the moment I start with an idea to when I start mixing to when I come up with sounds. It’s got to be fun.”

• La Ley’s legacy: “We were definitely the Chilean band that put Chile on the map, besides red wine and Pinochet. Now it’s the miners (for whom he wrote and recorded an all-star song). I think La Ley became a landmark rock en espanol band in the ‘80s, not only in Chile but all of Latin America. We worked really hard and made sure we came up with good albums, good songs. We were really professional and did our job. That was the thing. We wanted to make it and did everything we had to do to make it. I left the band at a very high (point), a great moment to take a long break.”

• Reunion rumors: “If I envision or come back to La Ley, I’d love it to be that we get back together to create something good, then decide and not have the pressure of being in the studio and everybody expecting something. I’d love to do it that way. It’s hard. Somebody makes a comment and rumors start. I’d rather leave it to the future. I’m happy where I am.”

• Missing Juárez: “Juárez was one of the best cities they had in Mexico back in the day, when I used to tour with La Ley. Unfortunately, due to the violence situation, I haven’t had a chance to go back.”

Information: 860.7777, speaking-rock.com.

Concert update: Warped, Dead movie

The Warped tour has announced seven more band, and ticket prices.

Jack's Mannequin, Madina Lake, the Continentals, Permanent Bastards, Rapid Decline, Street Dogs and the Steelwells have been added to the tour, which returns to NMSU's practice field at 11 a.m. June 29.

They  join previously announced bands such as Simple Plan, Wonder Years, Acacia Strain, Aggrolites, Dance Gavin Dance, Hellogoodbye, Less Than Jake, Lionize, Of Mice and  Men and Relient K.

Pre-registration is now available for the presale, which runs March 26-31. A limited number of presale packages will sell for $19.99. Sign up at vanswarpedtour.com.

Tickets go on sale to the general public at 10 a.m. April 1. They're $34 in advance, $36 day of show, and will be available at at the Pan Am box office, Ticketmaster outlets, ticketmaster.com and 800.745.3000.

In other sort of concert news, the concert documentary "The Grateful Dead Movie Event" will be broadcast locally at 7:30 p.m. April 20 at Cinemark's Cielo Vista, Tinseltown and West cinemas. 

Tickets are $12.50, on sale at fathomevents.com.

It features "The Grateful Dead Movie," filmed at shows at the Winterland in October 1974, or 11 months after the band, at the height of its Jerry Garcia-led psychedelic peak, played our very own Coliseum.

The band went on hiatus for two years after that. The movie, co-directed by Garcia and Leon Gast, debuted in 1977. The broadcast will feature the original movie (including songs such as "Sugar Magnolia" and "Casey Jones") plus interview footage with Bob Weir and the late Garcia that was not included in the original theatrical release or a second showing in 2003.