Pullen My Blog

NDMF update: Dirty Vegas, Los Amigos, Zechs Marquise

"I think you put El Paso on the map, Neon Desert," Dirty Vegas singer Steve Smith declared.

Indeed, the first NDMF is proving to be everything it's creators envisioned, maybe more.

The vibe here is both upbeat and laidback. I've seen little kids dancing around, a few old people (not many) shaking their booties, and lots of people with "finally" smiles on their faces.

Don't have a headcount but their must be 6000 hrere as of 8 pm.

Blogging from phone so I'll keep it short. Caught the tale end of a spirited set by venezuela's Los Amigos Invisibles in front of a big crowd and a sterling performance from EP prog rock instrumentalists Zechs Marquise, who sound much tighter than when I saw them last year.

More later. Three hours and about five more acts to go.

NDMF update: After-party info

This isn't complete but at least four official Neon Desert Music Festival after-parties are planned for tonight. 

Dirty Vegas will do a DJ set at Wet Ultra Lounge at 9 p.m. Cost is $10. PD Collective and Party Sex and B.S. also will play.

Omar Rodriguez Lopez, Cedric Bixler Zavala and Juan Aldrete will do DJ sets beginning at 10 p.m. at Lowbrow Palace. Zechs Marquise,  Decantoni Parks and Parallels also will perform. Cost is $10.

Designer Drugs, Zeale and the Black and White Years, the D.A. and Bulletproof Tiger play an after-party at Medallions at 11. Cost: $10.

Soho will host Mexicans at Night and Subrosa Union at 11 p.m. Also $10.

Also, Frontera Bugalu has announced one at 11 p.m. at Lips Lounge.

 

 

NDMF update: Crowd's first wave hungry for a festival like this

The first person in line to enter today's first Neon Desert Music Festival wasn't an electronica-loving teenager or a skulking indie rock college student.

It was Roberto Avant-Mier, 39, an associate professor and research fellow at UTEP's Sam Donaldson Center for Communications.

He was there for personal and professional reasons, since he's a fan bilingual El Paso rockers Mexicans at Night and the author of a book about popular music.

"I was super-excited about it. It's important because people say nothing happens in El Paso," he said, adding that he'd usually have to travel to see NDMF's unique-for-El Paso blend of alternative rock, Latin rock and electronic music.

"I thought, 'Dude, you have to go,'" said Avant-Mier, who went with his wife, Olga, 36, her Sonic Youth t-shirt-wearing brother, Adrian Dominguez, 21, and his 19-year-old cousin, Ernesto Burciaga, both of whom attend El Paso Community College.

"This is the perfect place," Olga Avant-Mier said as they stood at the front of a line of about 100 festival-goers outside the El Paso Public Library minutes before the gates at Oregon and Franklin streets opened, the first wave of a steady trickle expected to number between 8,000 and 10,000 when it's all over by 11 p.m.

They opened at 11:06 a.m., six minutes past the announced time. The first two scheduled acts also started later than the posted time. Two-member DJ crew Party Sex and B.S. were the first to perform, but their 11:30 a.m. set on the Mattress Firm stage in San Jacinto Plaza, which was surrounded by a six-foot chain link fence, started 20 minutes late.

Neither the duo or the 30 or so people who gathered in front of the stage seemed to mind.

"They need a little more organization, but I hope it goes great," said PSBS' Sergio Chaparro, a 19-year-old EPCC student who grew up in Juarez.

"It's great El Paso is doing this now. I'm really excited," said Chaparro as his DJ partner, 17-year-old Franklin High School student Eddie Gonzalez stood by coolly.

The festival site, a seven-block area stretching from Cleveland Square Park to the placita, was relatively calm in the run up to the opening of a 12-hour event featuring 29 acts on four stages, including the Omar Rodriguez Lopez Group (with Mars Volta singer Cedric Bixler Zavala), Canadian electronic duo MSTRKFT, Mexican rockers Kinky and Brazil's colorful CSS.

Gina Martinez, one of three executive producers and El Paso natives with Austin's Splendid Sun Productions, said she got about 30 minutes of sleep Friday night.

"The rest is all adrenaline," she said shortly before barking out orders to some of the pink-shirted volunteers who would be selling tickets ($35, $25) at the entrance.

Fellow producer Zach Paul said things were running smoothly, with a few last-minute glitches here and there. 

"We're just trying to tie up loose ends," he said.

His uncle, promoter and former El Paso Diablos owner Jim Paul, was on hand to "help put out whatever fires they have."

"I don't think anybody in El Paso has ever put on something this huge," he said.

The Scion Stage, where Rodriguez Lopez performs at 9:30 p.m., faces Cleveland Square Park. It's one of two main stages.

The other, the MTI Ready Mix stage, where Kinky goes on at 8:30, faces west at the Mesa/Main street intersection.

The fourth, smaller Dick Poe Hoy-Fox stage, faces west and is tucked into a paved area just north of the new Mills Plaza parking ramp, where El Paso quintet Cigarettes After Sex went on at 12:15, 15 minutes after the posted time.

A dozen visual artists created paintings using brushes, spray cans and markers on 8-by-10 foot wood panels. Merchandise booths sold everything from t-shirts to paintings to candles to jewelry.

Beer tents were selling 12 oz. Heinekens and Red Bull for $4, 16 oz. Coors Lights for $5 and 24 oz. Tecates for $7.

Six food trucks between the Scion and Poe stages, including the Drifter and Creative Gourmet Eats, sold a variety of things to eat,  such as gourmet burgers, buffalo wings, tacos and shaved ice.

Rudy Valdes, owner and chef of Crave Kitchen and Bar, had enough food to feed 2,000 people."Either they eat it or I eat it," he joked.

He said an event like NDMF, which is geared to younger people, is overdue here.

"It seems like we're on our way to becoming a big city," said Valdes, an El Paso native who used to live in Phoenix. "A big city needs big city attractions. What better way to do that than this?"

Concert update: Neon Desert going up

Just walked the seven-block route where Saturday's Neon Desert Music Festival will take place.

There are signs that a festival is going to happen, but not that many — yet.

There are six-foot chain link fences going up around the various festivals areas, most notably at San Jacinto Plaza, where DJs and dance acts will perform.

No sign of the stage at Mesa and Main, between the Chase and Bank of America buildings, but organizers say that stage should start going up around 3:30 p.m. or so.

The area where the Dick Poe Hoy-Fox Stage will go, near the entrance at Franklin and Oregon, is already fenced for construction workers who've been toiling on the nine-story Mills Plaza parking lot next door.

The lot will be open for the festival, though the ingress route is still being worked out, an attendant told me. Parking will be $5, same as the convention center lot. That's cheap folks. In Detroit, we paid $20 and up at official lots.

While no stages are up yet, I did see two trucks from Mobile Stage Rentals, one parked by the Mills parking lot near El Paso and Main streets. The other passed by San Jacinto as I was walking.

Organizers say the three stages that will be erected for the festival should all start going up around 3:30. The fourth stage in San Jacinto is the permanent bandshell in the park.

The Omar Rodriguez Lopez Group (with Cedric Bixler Zavala), MSTRKRFT, Dirty Vegas, Kinky, CSS, Los Amigos Invisibles, Girl in a Coma and 22 other bands (including locals Radio La Chusma, Frontera Bugalu, Mexicans at Night, the Lusitania, the Royalty, the DA and Bulletproof Tiger) will perform on four stages between 11:30 a.m. and 11 p.m.

Gates open at 11 a.m.

A couple of things that came out of producer Zach Paul's live chat on elpasotimes.com: There is no re-entry; once you're in, you're in, you can't come and go from the festival site; beer will sell for $4-$7; and it's a cash-only festival.

You might want to have at least $50 to pay for parking, food and drinks, merch, etc.

Make that $100 if you haven't bought your ticket before you get there.

Tickets are $35, $25 for military, on sale at All That Music & Video, the Headstand, Western Beverages, all three ITR locations on Fort Bliss and neondesertmusicfestival.com.

 

Concert review: Ricky Martin's liberation celebration rocks Coliseum

There's nothing subtle about the video that opens Ricky Martin's current "MAS" tour. It's a theatrical sequence, shot in black and white to underscore the symbolism, in which the Puerto Rican hunk breaks the metal chains with which he is bound.

It's an obvious reference to his decision to come out of the closet last year, after speculation about his sexual orientation that dates back farther than "Livin' La Vida Loca," the 1999 smash that made him a superstar the world over.

Once the short video ended at Thursday's Coliseum show, his first here in nearly four years, Martin appeared from behind the screen standing in the middle of a three-level metal structure that resembled the set from "Hollywood Squares" (he, coincidentally, was in Paul Lynde's spot!), his forced vocal no match for the amped up, pounded out aggression of "Sera Sera" from his new, empowerment-themed "Musico + Alma + Sexo" album.

With words like "liberation," lines like "don't be afraid of yourself" and stunts like the black leather- clad singer's plummet from the second level into the arms of his dancers, it was obvious that this show was about more than just music, soul and sex. It was about setting yourself free.

The crowd of 4,000 ate it up.

The guy's been a favorite here as long as rumors about his homosexuality have filled tabloids, and he's been performing here since the Menudo days, when he was too young to have his sexuality speculated about.

Of course, the man with the thin, pleasant voice, irrepressible smile and rubbery hips could have sung about kinky sex and the crowd, mostly in its 20s, 30s and 40s, would have loved it. 

In fact, he did turn a mash up of "I Am" and "I Don't Care" into a lascivious declaration of sexual freedom as Martin and his four female and four male dancers — all very fit, all very good looking — slithered over and under one another on a prop couch in not too discreet ways.

Martin came out of the closet only a year ago, so it makes sense that such a monumental moment in his life and career, as well as becoming a father nearly three years ago, would manifest itself in the upbeat, empowering themes of the "MAS" album, his confessional new autobiography "Me" and now this tour. This is his liberation celebration.

One doesn't expect depth from such a guarded guy. Fortunately, Martin doesn't overdo the tolerance thing in a highly choreographed but inventively conceived and executed show. It deftly touches on the major phases of his adult life and career (thank goodness he left that Menudo tripe out) without placing too much emphasis on any one of them.

Instead, it groups them into four five-song sections, which are connected by unnecessary videos, including one about one of the male dancer's coming out and another about racial tolerance featuring his black guitarist and music director.

The first segment, where he wore black leather and a sheer, hooded shirt (Armani oufitted the tour), explores themes of personal transformation, ending with one of his last pre-American crossover hits, and first audience singalong, "Vuelve."

The second part, with its black-and-white fashion scheme and '20s cabaret feel, is more about fun and enjoyment, with Martin's infectious grin replacing that stern mug from the first part. It opened with "Livin' La Vida Loca," the song that made him a superstar and also helped make him miserable, forcing the singer to withdraw and reevaluate. You can tell by the slightly more restrained version here (as opposed to that tour in 1999-2000) that he's still trying to rediscover the joy in a career-defining song that brings so much happiness to others.

He found it  with a lighter, less urgent version of "She Bangs," a slightly but deliberately off-kilter "Shake You Bon Bon" and a festive  "Loaded" that included touches of early jazz.

By the third segment, the "Hollywood Squares" set was all but forgotten as Martin, his two backup singers (who did a lot to flesh out his sometimes thin and choppy vocals) and members of his 10-piece band sat down, or at least slowed down, for a lovely version of "Maria" on which he cavorted flirtatiously with one of his female dancers, a sing-along version of "Tu Recuerdo" and a medley of older hits  "Fuego" and "Te Extrano."

The laidback tone, accented by his white and light brown muscle shirts, abruptly changed with joyless new song "Frio," with its jagged dance beats and a salacious choreography on which he fought off three bullwhip-snapping, scantily clad female dancers. "I Am/I Don't Care" and its "Eyes Wide Open" couch orgy followed.

The fourth segment opened with another symbolic video, the highlight of which was the black-and-white shot of a naked, crouching Martin, which turned to color after he was doused (as in purified ) by water.

The mood turned celebratory again with new song "MAS," which sports the kind of catchy, chant-like chorus that made him famous, and tropical-flavored, party-inducing versions of "Lola Lola," "La Bomba" and "Pegate" that got Martin smiling freely and shaking his bon bon more naturally than on the more choreographed stuff.

A rousing "Cup of Life," which closed the regular portion of the show, which started at 8:55, or nearly an hour later than the announced show time, due to late arriving crowds.

He ended the 100-minute performance with "Lo Mejor de Mi Vida/The Best Thing About Me Is You," the first single and most accessibly pop song from the new album. It was like the period on the sentence about love, sex, hope and tolerance he'd been writing over the course of the adrenalized 21-song performance.

Wearing a white, form-fitting t-shirt that read "Tu You = Me Yo," he signed off by saying "I'm talking about equality everybody," bid his farewells, waved and flashed a peace sign.

But in a town that has watched the 39-year-old Martin grow and change over the past 25 years, one suspects they'll remember something he promised during "Cup of Life," that is, "I'll be back."

 

 

Concert update: The Koz returneth this Christmas

Smooth jazz man Dave Koz, who has sold out eight of nine shows here from 2000 to 2010, will return with the 14th annual edition of his Christmas show.

He'll return to the Plaza Theatre on Dec. 18.

He'll be joined by saxophonist Candy Dulfer and singer-guitarist Jonathan Butler, who were part of last year's holiday tour, which sold out the 2,000-seater on Dec. 9.

Also on the tour: trumpeter Rick Braun, who last performed here with Koz on the 2009 Christmas tour.

Koz has dropped the "Smooth Jazz Christmas" name from the tour and is now calling it the Dave Koz and Friends Christmas Tour.

The sax man's summer tour opens June 17 in Austin, but will skip El Paso, as it did last year.

The 22-city, 23-show Christmas tour opens Nov. 25 in Atlanta and ends Dec. 23 in San Diego.

Koz will release a six-song live digital album, "iTunes: Live From Soho," on June 14. It was recorded recently during a performance at the Apple store in that New York district.

Ticket prices haven't been determined, but promoter Connie Paul said they'll go on sale Nov. 5.

 

 

Theater update: Bigger, better Broadway series planned

It was a coup getting "Wicked" for the Plaza Theatre's 2011-2012 Broadway series.

But the rest of the schedule doesn't look too bad, either, with a couple of old favorites, a couple of new shows based on popular movies, a tribute to the Rat Pack, a Broadway tribute and an a cappella group that made its name first at Indiana University then on YouTube.

The series will be announced at the April 28 Blue Man Group concert at the Plaza, which is part of the theater's 2010-2012 season. Their April 27 performance was postponed until Sept. 13 because high winds on April 26 prevented cast and crew from landing at El Paso International Airport on time, theater officials said.

The much-hyped "Wicked" will be here for 16 shows Feb. 1-12. It will be the longest run of a show in the restored theater's second life, which began when it reopened in 2006.

One of its nearest competitors, "Mamma Mia!," will return April 10-11. It sold out eight shows in 2007.

The classic "Fiddler on the Roof" will be there Dec. 13.

Newer productions of "Shrek the Musical," based on the 2001 blockbuster animated movie, and "Mel Brooks' New Musical Young Frankenstein," based on the funnyman's 1974 horror movie spoof, are also on the schedule.

"Shrek" opens the season Oct. 25-26. "Young Frankenstein" will be there Nov. 20.

Also booked:

• Composer Neil Berg's revue "100 Years of Broadway," March 26.

• A cappella group Straight No Chaser, April 5.

• "The Rat Pack is Back!," featuring Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. and Joey Bishop impersonators, closes the season May 5.

That's eight different shows, 25 total performances, a noticeable increase from the current season, which will total six shows and eight performances, including the two Blue Man Group shows and a June 6-7 return run of "Cats," which are expected to go clean (meow!).

Individual tickets won't go on sale until closer to each show. Those with 2010-2011 subscriptions can renew through May 27, ensuring they will have tickets to "Wicked." New subscriptions will be available beginning April 28.

 

Concert update: Waka Flocka Flame, 'Viva!,' McKelligon movies, She Wants Revenge, '8 Murders' and more

Saturday caps an unusually busy week for music fans in which we will have seen a diverse array of artists — Social Distortion, Ricky Martin, George Thorogood, Blue Man Group, Buddy Jewell and Pete Anderson — pass through.

That's not including Conjunto Primavera's Saturday at the Coliseum and the 29 acts performing at Saturday's 12-hour Neon Desert Music Festival downtown.

There's another show that could be big but is flying under the radar. It's a combination car show and rap concert, featuring hot newcomer Waka Flocka Flame, at Cohen Stadium.

The first time event will feature about 50 cars and other vehicles from nearly a half dozen local clubs beginning at 2:30 p.m. in the parking lot, along with food and other vendors.

The concert starts at 5:30 p.m. inside the stadium, with Waka Flocka Flame, known for such hits as "No Hands" and "Grove St. Party," going on around 8:30.

It's the culmination of a dream for Club Freelon owner and retired Army Col. Tim Freelon, who is the promoter. He sees it as a way to build on what he's been trying to do with his club at 8500 Dyer, which will mark its second anniversary with Saturday's event — build a stronger sense of community in northeast El Paso.

"This is kind of like the second-year celebration of giving back to El Paso and giving back to great customers of all ages," Freelon says, who served 28 years in the Army.

Freelon saw a "major void" for entertainment on the city's northeast side, especially when it came to entertainment that appealed to the city's black population.

"I saw a social need for young soldiers and people in the northeast," he says, adding that the city's open embrace of all races appealed to him as a young man when he was first stationed here out of Mississippi in 1982.

He returned a few years ago after an assignment at the Pentagon, and began to think about how he could fill that void with a club that could function as a social center, where young military men and women could dance to hip-hop one night, teens could have a social event, baby boomers could jam to the oldies and organizations could host fundraisers.

"I never wanted it to be looked at as a nightclub, but as a community building," Freelon says.

But Freelon wanted to do something bigger that would cut across all age groups and appeal to the community at large and the military and their families in particular. Hip-hop, he thought, would have the broadest audience appeal. So would a car show, which would give families "the opportunity to come out early to enjoy the food, the games and to walk around in a family type of environment before the show."

He booked Waka Flocka Flame, whose second album comes out this summer, because he liked what he saw, including the various charitable and social causes the rapper has embraced (including PETA).

"I thought about what young artist could bring to my core customers, the hip-hop community, and which one could reach across not just young soldiers, but also the teens and something the older people, the middle-aged people, could come to," Freelon says.

Also performing will be local acts 3 Dimensions, Blazin' House and Aubrey Mykel, who Freelons discovered through a talent contest at  his club.

Freelon knows some will wonder about security. He'll have a lot of it, including metal detectors at the stadium entrance, his own 30-man team and stadium security.

Tickets are $15 in advance, $25 day of show, on sale at the club, All That Music & Video, Ran Pass Liquors, elpasodiablos.com and the door.

Call 525.5645 for more info.

In other show news:

• "Viva! El Paso" returns to McKelligon Canyon Amphitheater for its 34th season at 8:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays June 3-Aug. 11.

The show will mark its opening weekend with a canned food drive for the El Paso Del Norte Food Bank. Tickets will be $10 with a donation.

No ticket prices or on-sale dates have been announced yet. None are posted on the show's site, viva-ep.org, or ticketmaster.com.

The show lost its principal choreographer, Marco Alferez, a former Irvin High School dance teacher who, according to El Paso Times reports, was indicted last year on charges of sexual exploitation of children and receipt, distribution and possession of material involving the sexual exploitation of children. He pled not guilty to the charges.

• McKelligon Canyon also will be the site of the third annual Movies in the Canyon series, which has signed on its first sponsor, the El Paso Employees Federal Credit Union. The free movies will show at 7:15 and 9:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays Aug. 19-Oct. 1.

The program started in late summer 2009, drawing 7,000 people. It was expanded to August last year, right after the Plaza Classic Film Festival, and drew 16,000, according to the El Paso Convention and Visitors Bureau, which runs the amphitheater.

No titles have been announced yet, but 28 movies will be shown.

• American rockers She Wants Revenge, whose new album "Valley Heart" comes out May 24, return to Club 101 at 8 p.m. June 15.

Nico Vega opens.

Tickets are $15 in advance, $20 day of show, on sale at 10 a.m. April 29 at the club, All That Music & Video, the Headstand and ticketbully.com.

• Las Cruces Charlie Minn is reopening his "8 Murders a Day" documentary on April 29 at Premiere Cinemas at Bassett Place. It played there earlier, but the run ended prematurely due to some technical problems, he said at the time.

It also played at the Philanthropy Theatre, by the Plaza Theatre, for a week.

This is a new, digital print, he said, and will be shown with Spanish subtitles

• The Silver City Blues Festival returns for the 16th year May 27-29 in that quirky little western NM town. Zac Harmon and Harry Manx headline the free festival.

Also performing: Kat Crosby; Reba Russell Band; Pleasure Pilots; Shri Blues Band; Big Jim Adan and John Stilwagen; C.W. Ayon; and the Coolers.

Call 575.538.2505 or go to mimbresarts.org.

• Don't have ticket info on this yet, but rockabilly cats the Reckless Ones headline a May 17 show at Lowbrow Palace.

Hot Rod Boogie and the Slicks open. It's 21 and older.

• The ever talented Jaime "Jimmy Daze" Portillo rolls out the fifth issue of his historical comic book, "Hell Paso: The Story of Dallas Stoudenmier" at, where else, the El Paso Museum of History.

He'll do an autograph signing from 2-4 p.m. April 30 at the museum.

Joining him for the free event will be artists Chris Shehan and Arturo Delgado.

 

Concert update: Tonight's Blue Man Group show blown to September

Tuesday's high winds blew down more than trees. They forced the postponement of tonight's Blue Man Group concert at the Plaza Theatre.

It will not, however, affect Thursday's performance at 7:30 p.m.

Carol McNeal, director of booking and sales for the Plaza, said that Tuesday's high winds forced members of the tour from landing at the El Paso International Airport.

The entourage flew in two planes. They circled the airport "for a few hours," McNeal said, before being diverted. One plane went to Albuquerque, the other to Phoenix.

Company members began arriving early this morning, but too late to put on tonight's show.

It has been rescheduled for Sept. 13 at the Plaza.

Tickets purchased for tonight's show will be honored on  the new date. Refunds will be available beginning May 2 at the point or purchase.

Thursday's show will go on as planned, McNeal said.

Information: 231.1100, theplazatheatre.org; visitelpaso.com.

 

 

 

Concert update: Neon Desert, Electric Love, Queensryche, Street Fest, Balloonfest, Champagne fest and more,

The Neon Desert Music Festival folks have confirmed the location of the four stages for the April 30 event in downtown El Paso.

They've also locked in the schedule, with 29 artists confirmed and a 30th a possibility.

The music starts at 11:30 a.m. with a DJ set by El Paso's Party Sex and Bulls*** in San Jacinto Plaza and ends at 11 p.m. with headlining sets by the Omar Rodriguez Lopez Group on the Scion, or main stage, and MSTRKRFT on the DJ stage in San Jacinto.

First, the map.

The main entrance, which will be marked by NDMF in 9' letters, will be at the intersection of Oregon and Franklin streets.

The main stage, the Scion stage, will be at the intersection of Franklin and Santa Fe, at the corner of Cleveland Square Park. It will face Franklin. That's where bands like the Omar Rodriguez Lopez Group, with Cedrix Bixler Zavala, will perform at 9:30 p.m.

The Dick Poe/Hoy Fox stage will be near the entrance. It's where several of the indie and Latin bands, including CSS, will play.

A third stage, the MTI Ready Mix stage, will be at the corner of Main and Mesa streets and will face Main toward the Mills Building. It will have a Latin rock bent to it, with Mexico's Kinky headlining.

A four stage, the Mattress Firm, will be devoted to DJs and dance music acts, including headliners MSTRKFT, who'll go on at 9:30 p.m. It will be in San Jacinto Plaza on the same stage where the annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony takes place.

Music on the Scion stage will start at 12:30 p.m. with El Paso's Mexicans at Night, followed by Austin's Nicosounds at 1:30, El Paso's Radio La Chusma at 2:30, San Antonio's Girl in a Coma at 3:45, El Paso's Zechs Marquise (5:30), England's Dirty Vegas (7:30) and the Omar Rodriguez Lopez Group from 9:30-11.

The MTI stage will open with El Paso's Frontera Bugalu at 1, followed by Austin's Through the Trees (2), Austin's Subrosa Union (3), Montreal's No Joy (4:30), Venezuela's Los Amigos Invisibles (6:30) and Kinky (8:30).

The indie-oriented Dick Poe/Hoy-Fox stage will open with Cigarettes After Sex at noon, followed by the Lusitania at 1, the Royalty (2), the D.A. (3), the Black & White Years featuring Zeale (4:30), New York's Beach Fossils (6:30) and Brazil's CSS (8:30).

The Mattress Firm DJ stage will being with Party Sex and Bulls*** at 11:30 a.m., followed by Chemical Jump (noon), Late Night Social Club (12:30), Pastilla Digital (1:30), Gobi (2:30), Bulletproof Tiger (3:45), Parallels (5:30), Designer Drugs (7:30) and MSTRKRFT (9:30).

Tickets are $35, on sale at All That Music & Video, the Headstand and neondesertmusicfestival.com.

In other concert news:

• Sorry I'm late with this, cuz I got it last week and was swamped and, but DJ Erick Morillo will headline the Electric Love Fest at 7 p.m. May 27 at the Judson L. William Convention Center.

His show will come with all the bells and whistles, including LED screens, projections, computerized lighting, fire dancers and jugglers and go-go dancers.

Promoters Tiger Milk, Famous Angels and Rude Nights are touting it as an "exclusive, sexy, and intimate event," with visual art, "an interactive experience" made of metal, glass, lights and fire and a wonderland theme.

Tickets are $30, on sale at the Plaza Theatre box office, Ticketmaster outlets, ticketmaster.com and 800.745.3000.

• KLAQ has confirmed that Queensryche will be part of its annual Downtown Street Fest, which will be July 1-2 in the heart of downtown El Paso. Hinder headlines July 1. Queensryche and Bachman & Turner (of Overdrive fame) will play on July 2.

Tickets will be $15, but won't go on sale until after its Balloonfest on Memorial Day weekend.

Balloonfest will feature Hellyeah on May 28, Finger Eleven on May 29 and Drowning Pool and Pop Evil on May 30.

This year's balloon launch moves from Grace Gardens to the Santa Teresa Country Club, where station manager Brad Dubow said there are "beautiful rolling fields" that should provide a nice backdrop for the launch.

Balloonfest tickets will be $15 in advance, $30 day of, and will go on sale April 29 at 7-11 Fina stores.

Speaking of moving, you may have noticed that KLAQ sister station KISS-FM has moved its third annual El Paso Champagne Festival from Grace Gardens and Balloonfest to Mother's Day Weekend.

It's also moved to the Arts Festival Plaza, which is between the Plaza Theatre and El Paso Museum of Art, where the Alfresco! Fridays series is held. Mat Kearney headlines May 6, Parachute on May 7.

Dubow says they'll have champagne and beer tastings from 5-9 (21 and older), and the first 2,500 to show up each night (21 and older) will get a free champagne glass. 

They also will show movies at 7:30 and 10:30 p.m. both nights in the Plaza, though titles haven't been confirmed yet.

Tickets for the Champagne festival are $15 , on sale at Western Beverage stores.

• Pony Productions has confirmed shows by Silverstein, the Polar Bear Club, the Swellers (from my old haunt, Flint, Mich.) and Texas in July at 6 p.m. May 8 at Club 101. Tickets are $15, on sale at All That Music, the Headstand and Ticketbully.com.

Pony also is bringing Aiden, Eyes Set to Kill, Vampires Everywhere, Get Scared and Dr. Acula to Club 101 at 6 p.m. June 10. Tickets: $15, on sale at the same locations as Silverstein.

And it's booked Unearth for a 6 p.m. July 6 show at 101. Openers are Turbid North, Triumph Over Shipwreck, Aura Lynn and Limerance. Tickets: $15, same locations.

• I don't have ticket details, but Iraqi metal band Acrassicauda, features in the documentary "Heavy Metal in Baghdad," will play the House of Rock-East at 8 p.m. May 27. It's a 21 and older show. The movie will be screened, and the band will do a meet-and-greet, at 5 p.m. May 27 at The Percolator.