Upcoming Events in Santa Cruz
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The Fixx
Catalyst; $19 adv/$24 door; 9pm.
Even though they’ve lately been consigned to the Boardwalk and county fair circuit, the Fixx are actually one of the most interesting new wave acts of the ’80s. Their sound—an assuredly melodic pop approach with off-kilter keyboards and syncopated vocals—laid the groundwork for much of the synth-happy pop-punk, emo and indie rock that have returned to vogue in the past decade. You probably only remember their top hit, “One Thing Leads to Another,” but the Fixx’s back catalog is deep and strong. It’s heartening to see them getting their due and returning to a stage better suited to their ample talents.
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The Tubes
Beach Boardwalk; free; 6:30pm and 8:30pm.
Some may think it odd that a band that made its with mark with pornographic onstage imagery, 8-inch stiletto heels and songs like “White Punks on Dope” would be closing down the ever-wholesome Beach Boardwalk summer concert series. Then again, there are only so many ’80s bands still touring. Led by sequin-studded front man Fee Waybill, a.k.a. Quay Lewd, and featuring a rock ensemble with tendencies somewhere between Ratt, Poison and David Bowie, the Tubes are the perfect spectacle with which to sum up another summer of beachfront concerts featuring bands you swore had already gone to the other side. Beach Boardwalk; free; 6:30pm and 8:30pm.
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Jesus Diaz Y Su QBA
Moe's Alley; $12 adv/$15 door; 9pm.
Keeping to one genre can only take an artist so far these days. Individuality sounded neat to Jesus Diaz, so he cooked up a funky blend of ramba, son and various afro-cuban beats to make his mark on the Bay Area music scene. His band QBA invokes a smoky American jazz club transplanted to the Caribbean and outfitted with a conga set. It’s the inclusion of piano and a brass section that gives the act its genre-bending cred, and although roll call at an 11-person band practice might get a little complicated, Diaz and his orchestra deliver rhythms clear enough to see through.
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The Evangenitals
Don Quixote’s; $10 adv./$10 door; 7pm.
The Evangenital brand of sound grew up in a hippie comune that went to hoedowns on the weekends, and it’s got a great sense of humor. The septet tends towards the rowdy, and spinning might be the most appropriate dance move. Well, spinning mixed with stomping. True, their songs can get a bit sentimental (“I'm Sad”), but for the most part the group is hillbilly madness made flesh. They're coming in on the extreme side of hybrid bands, and have listed their sound as a mix of everything from klezmer to punk-jazz. It looks a little schizophrenic on paper, but the Evangenital cocktail ends up packing a pretty cohesive punch.
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Cold Cave
Henry Miller Library; $25; 4:20pm.
Kids today may not have bands like Bauhaus or Joy Division to give them cause to don leather and mascara and sway drearily at basement goth concerts. But by God, they’ve still got the Cure, Depeche Mode and, lately, Philly foursome Cold Cave! Reveling in the same dark, depressingly introspective lyrics and somber industrial electronica that was thoroughly ravaged in the ’80s, Cold Cave rehashes it without apology and to great effect, using a simple recipe of well planned, well executed songs. Also on the bill: SF folk psyche set Vetiver, Los Angeles trip hop project LA Vampires and alt punk thrashers Abe Vigoda.
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The Mighty Diamonds
Catalyst; $10 adv/$15 door; 9pm.
Jamaican harmony trio the Mighty Diamonds are probably best known for their 1982 hit “Pass the Koutchie,” later popularized by the pint-sized Brit reggae act Musical Youth as “Pass the Dutchie.” But the Mighty Diamonds are deserving of much more notoriety than that historical footnote would suggest—the band’s Rastafarian roots-reggae is particularly influential, bringing a harmonic sophistication to a genre that often used vocals as a bullhorn more than a musical element. In a way, the band’s sound shared much with the folk-rock of the ’70s, with its spare instrumentation and focus on tight vocal harmonies. After four decades in the business, the Mighty Diamonds’ sound is as striking as ever and a unique deviation from reggae’s traditional arrangements.
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Vetiver
Don Quixote’s; $15; 8pm.
It’s easy to just sit back and watch Andy Cabic do his thing. As chief songwriter, vocalist and, on some album tracks, drummer, bassist and keyboardist for San Francisco psyche folk warblers Vetiver, he’s a phenomenon unto himself. But when you remember that his band also includes frequent collaborators like Devendra Banhart and Joanna Newsom, not to mention four full-time veteran musicians that could front their own acts, the full effect becomes a tad overwhelming. Having spent the last several years roving up and down the West Coast and beyond, Vetiver stops by Felton tonight to spread a little dark sunshine under the redwoods.
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Nekromantix
Catalyst; $13 adv/$15 door; 8pm.
Anyone who spends an extended amount of time working on a submarine is bound to have some twisted ideas of what constitutes fun. For Kim Nekroman, the founder and only consistent member of psychobilly trio Nekromantix, the eight years he spent 20,000 leagues deep with the Danish Navy left him with several hundred new ways to play solitaire and an insatiable love for zombies, demons and all things horrific. Two decades, a few dozen tattoos and one coffin-shaped bass guitar later, Nekromantix is one the genre’s best-loved acts and a staple of the local psychobilly crowd.
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Stanley Jordan Trio
Kuumbwa; 7pm $25 adv/$28 door, 9pm $20 adv/$23 door.
Stanley Jordan didn’t invent the electric guitar playing technique known as tapping. But a lot of folks certainly think he perfected it. By using both hands to thump down on the strings of one, even two guitars at a time, Jordan turns his fret board into an extended keyboard and is able to execute mind-melting jazz scales that would be impossible with a pick. Though often pigeonholed as a freak talent spectacle and nominated for four Grammy Awards arguably on this basis, Jordan these days has scorned the mainstream music culture, instead choosing to hole up in Arizona and study musical therapy, only rearing his head for certain handpicked shows. We’re honored.
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Big Sam's Funky Nation
Catalyst; $12 adv/$25 door; 9pm.
There’s nothing small about Sammie “Big Sam” Williams. Besides the bruising heft of the man himself, the giant notes he blows on his trombone are practically visible as they leave the horn. As a member of the New Orleans ensemble Dirty Dozen Brass Band, its no wonder that a man like Williams can command a room to dance. What’s slightly subtler is his ability to handpick a band. With Funky Nation, Big Sam has assembled an in-your-face cross-section of the Big Easy’s myriad styles, fusing them together around a message of big-time fun.
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Benny Benassi
Catalyst; $32; 9pm.
A poster boy of the Euro house and techno scene, Italian stallion Benny Benassi has been working the late shift on the ones and twos at some of the biggest clubs in the world for nigh on 20 years. When he rolls through Santa Cruz, however, it won’t be in a tour bus, a party van or club girl-hoisted litter. Nope, Benny’s coming on a fixie. Dubbed the “Benny Benassi Bike Tour: A Musical Ride Through California…Without Breaks,” the sojourn sees the DJ (and apparently avid cyclist) pedaling his big beat house breakdowns from San Fran to San Diego over the course of nine days with a planned 212 bikey friends to ride in support, and, we guess, carry his equipment.
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Mini Mansions
Crepe Place; $8 adv/$10 door; 9pm.
It took decades to happen, but power-pop has finally made its way to the mainstream, or at least indie rock’s first tier. Drawing inspiration from the Beatles (and number one Beatles fan Elliot Smith), Mini Mansions are beneficiaries of this popular reconsideration. The band is adept at turning out the kind of perfect confections that rarely make their way onto the pop charts nowadays. This is a notable achievement, as many alleged pop bands ape the moves of their teenage idols but are incapable of writing original hooks. Mini Mansions’ ability to credibly do both suggests they’ll be worth watching in the years to come.
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Shawn Phillips
Don Quixote’s; $12; 7pm
Long before Led Zeppelin playacted pagan rituals for record label marketing portfolios, Shawn Phillips was the real deal: a ’60s folk singer as notable for his eccentric gait and mystical obsessions as his music. Yet it was his musical style that was the truly remarkable piece of the equation, an amalgam of folk, jazz, progressive rock, pop and classical that few have had the temerity to attempt. He now resides in South Africa, roughly as far away from his birthplace of Fort Worth, Texas as one could conceivably get.
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Ryan Bingham and the Dead Horses
Rio Theatre; 7:30pm; $21.
To hear Ryan Bingham sing, you'd think he was 100 years old. His sound would never give him away: a voice scraping over concrete is a signature of old age. His thematic content doesn't give the game up either, but in this case weariness and death don't translate to arthritis and memory loss. He's a 29-year-old who makes critics feel he's seen too much and lived too long, winning a Grammy for his Crazy Heart theme “The Weary Kind.” He grew up fast after a hardscrabble childhood and a youth spent being thrown by bulls, and the acceleration dropped his songwriting off 70 years into his emotional future. Bingham's sound haunts like a modern ghost, the perfect complement to the Dead Horses’ melodies.
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Eliza Gilkyson Band
Don Quixote’s; 7:30pm; $18 adv./$20 door
With the market flooded with folk music, how does one woman with a guitar compete with all the other women-guitar duos? Similes can’t do Eliza’s voice justice. But at times it sounds like molasses poured over thunder, and you can feel it your diaphragm, in your throat. But realistically, it’s an interesting voice and good lyrics that brings success, same as always, and this native Texas girl has got it good. Its what she does with that voice and the words she lingers over that make her interesting. Sometimes it sounds like its going to be ordinary, and then she goes deep and it isn’t anymore.
