Tweener months, Rob Garza and Bad Brad

by Chris Aaland

Electronic music pioneer Rob Garza plays the Animas City Theatre this Friday.

The tweener months are usually difficult for music fans. Festival season is a month or so away and the indoor venues slow down once the college kids head home to mommy. My thoughts, like yours, turn outside to rivers and trails and gardens. But there’s still song and drink to be had.

Two days before he starts a national tour with Thievery Corporation, Rob Garza plays the Animas City Theatre at 9 p.m. Friday. His career includes decades worth of accolades as an electronic music pioneer. Originally from Washington, D.C., Garza is known for infusing electronic music with dub, trip hop, reggae and bossa nova. Since relocating to San Francisco, Garza’s new experimentations take him to the far corners of the globe with solo DJ sets showcasing the best of deep house and nu-disco. Whether opening for Paul McCartney with Thievery Corporation, DJing in Nepal for climbers tackling Mount Everest or in more obscure clubs in remote corners of the world, Garza employs impeccable taste in music that resonates through every show. Special guests Ramona from Antwerp, Belgium, and local DJ Posh Josh will support Garza on Friday.

Bad Brad & the Fat Cats have created a name for themselves as a powerful new force in the blues. They’ll play Crash Music at the historic Aztec Theatre at 7:30 p.m. Friday. Despite their young ages, these guys are fearless. Singer/guitarist Brad Stivers represented the Colorado Blues Society at the 2011 International Blues Challenge in Memphis as their Youth Showcase entrant and has been compared to Jonny Lang and Bernard Allison. Nic Clark is one of the youngest Hoehner Harmonica-sponsored players ever and started playing in public just six months after picking up the instrument. In less than a year, these kids have played some of Colorado’s hottest music festivals and have branched out beyond the state lines.

Celebrate Mother Earth and Good Dirt Radio’s 10th birthday from 3-6:30 p.m. Saturday at the Durango Discovery Museum. Emceed by Good Dirt hosts Tami Graham and Tom Bartels, the event features live music by the Cannondolls, Stillwater Jazz and Carute Roma. Ska brews, Carver’s root beer and Zia tacos will be for sale. Good Dirt Radio, the FLC Environmental Center, Growing Spaces, Linda’s Local Prepared Food CSA, National Young Farmers Coalition and the Garden Project of Southwest Colorado will all have information tables at the event. Good Dirt Radio is carried locally by both KDUR and KSUT. This benefit event has a suggested donation of $5-$20 at the door.

Posing the question “Are You Experienced?” the eighth annual Durango Wine Experience is set for Thursday through Sunday in downtown Durango. The Experience offers three days of educational seminars, wine dinners and unique tastings, featuring thousands of wines, artisan spirits and craft beers. The Experience’s signature, multi-location public tasting event, the “Walk-About Durango,” goes down from 4-7 p.m. Friday. Attendees tour around downtown, visiting 12 unique venues, all featuring more than 500 wines with light appetizers. The grand tasting takes place from 3-6 p.m. Saturday under the festival tents at First National Bank’s downtown parking lot. More than 1,000 wines, spirits and craft beers will be featured. Plus, 12 of Durango’s top chefs will show off their cuisine at the fifth annual Restaurant Showcase during the Grand Tasting.

Canadian blues singer Rita Chiarelli joins the San Juan Symphony for its final concert of the 2013-14 season, “Symphony in Blue,” at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Community Concert Hall. Chiarelli, Canada’s most highly acclaimed female roots and blues artist, is know across the Great White North as the “Goddess of the Blues.” She’s a gifted songwriter and entertainer, but it’s her soaring, three-octave voice that sets her apart from her peers.

The Prattle Jazz Trio, featuring pianist Ryan McCurry, bassist Chad MacCluskey and drummer Jonathan Latta, celebrates the greats of swing and Latin jazz at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Unitarian Church, located at 410 San Juan Dr. A dinner precedes the performance. All proceeds benefit Music in the Mountains.

“The Met: Live in HD” continues at 10:55 a.m. Saturday in the Vallecito Room of the College Union Building with “Così fan tutte,” a comic masterpiece about romantic complications.

Durango DOT Comedy returns to the Durango Arts Center at 8 p.m. Saturday. This time around, they present “Sup?” In addition to the live improv, there’s always $1 Ska brews at Durango DOT Comedy events.

Wanna be a DJ? KDUR’s spring DJ meeting takes place at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday in 125 Noble Hall on campus.

Moe’s lineup this week is highlighted by the Funked-Up Fridays local music jam featuring Booty Conda from 6-10 p.m. Other musical happenings include dancing to Juicy Money from 8 ’til close Saturday and Latin Music Night at 8 p.m. Sunday.

Elsewhere: Kirk James does solo blues at the Sporting News Grill in the Holiday Inn from 6-10 p.m. tonight (Thurs., April 24); James also plays the Balcony Bar & Grill from 5-9 p.m. Friday with his full blues band; Jack Ellis is at the Derailed Pour House at 6 p.m. tonight and at the Office Spiritorium at 7 p.m. Friday; and the full Black Velvet band returns to the Derailed at 8 p.m. Friday.

This week’s Top Shelf list is provided by Tami Graham, one of the two hosts of “Good Dirt Radio” and the mastermind behind local concert promoter Tami Graham Presents. “Good Dirt” can be heard at 3 p.m. Sundays on KSUT and at various times on KDUR (6 p.m. on the first and third Mondays of each month and at 7 a.m. on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month). Tami’s Top 10 are in no particular order and are the most significant albums to her at various stages in her life – including those formative teenage years.

1. Beth Orton, “Pass in Time,” 2003
2. Ani DiFranco, “Not a Pretty Girl,” 1995
3. David Gray, “White Ladder,” 1998
4. Sarah McLachlan, “Fumbling Toward Ecstasy,” 1993
5. k.d. lang, “Ingénue,” 1992
6. Spearhead, “Home,” 1994
7. Steve Miller Band, “Book of Dreams,” 1977
8. Styx, “The Grand Illusion,” 1977
9. Simon & Garfunkel, “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” 1970
10. Cat Stevens, “Tea for the Tillerman,” 1970

Who’s the fool in the corner crying? Email me at chrisa@gobrainstorm.net.